Blissful Ignorance
by Serephy
Summary: Ever since his parents died, Sasuke has amnesia. Now, Sasuke has to deal with being a new person in an old body, the secrets of his past, the truth behind his parents' murder, and an older brother with an unrequited love. Yaoi, Uchihacest, AU. ItaSasu.
1. Memories

Full Summary: Ever since his parents died, Sasuke has amnesia

**Full Summary: **Ever since his parents died, Sasuke has amnesia. While investigators look into the murder of the Uchiha parents, Sasuke stays with his older brother. He thinks of Itachi only as a brother, but what if Itachi feels more?

**Warnings: **Yaoi, ItaSasu, Uchihacest. Don't like, don't read. Some spoilers, because I made Naruto's dad alive (I like him. So what??)

**Disclaimer: **Uh…If I owned Naruto, bad things will happen. Hehehe…

Right. I got this idea from…I don't know where, but the writing style used in this fic is basically my tribute to Jodi Picoult's amazing writing, and by that I mean the different perspectives. I can't write like her, but…I felt like writing a fic like that (going no where, again…).

Dedicated to Light is Gay! Thanks for all your support!!

**Prologue: Memories**

_Was it a dream? The only evidence that proves it…A photograph of you and I…in love…_

_30 Seconds to Mars 'Was It a Dream'_

**Prologue Part 1**

They are all whispering around him. Why, was the one thing he needed to know. Uchiha Sasuke clenches his hand around the strap of his backpack, eyes scanning over unfamiliar territory that is _supposed _to be familiar but just can't be. He feels stupid, like he should be in pre-school instead of freshman high school. Sasuke stays behind all of the gossiping girls, the back-slapping jocks, and the other typical groups of high school. He already decides to go into a group of his own, at least, until he finds someone that can pull him out of the mystification.

Sasuke spots a large clique of what seems to be filled with at least eleven kids, some older, some the same age as he. The spiky haired blonde turns around and allows a candid smile to cross his face. The raven hair can only blink in recognition that he is being recognized as the gang seems to drift towards him, all sporting surprised and expectant faces, and waiting for Sasuke to say something familiar.

He decides to go against their wishes and say nothing. He doesn't know them. Give him a reason to know them. "Excuse me," Sasuke mutters, trying to get through. All he wants was to go home, to someplace that is somewhat familiar, to someplace that has someone waiting for him. The group will not allow him.

Sasuke sees the blonde haired boy's (leader?) eyebrow go up. "What's so funny?" The Sasuke demands, speaking his mind instantly.

"Your voice. It got…deeper, I think," the blonde says, cocking his head to the left in uncertainty. Sasuke was about to do the same, but he refrains once the other boy performed the motion. "Ah, well. It's nice to have you back, Sasuke!"

Sasuke bits his lip. He figured that something like this was bound to happen – his past self did not have to be anti-social did he (right now, he dearly wishes he used to be)? He closes his eyes and begins to utter the words he had practiced before, for the time has come to announce things to strangers who were not strangers in the past. "I don't know you."

"What?" a (pink haired?) girl screeches, her emerald eyes wide with some sort of distress. "Naruto," she turns to the blonde haired leader "they warned us about something like this, didn't they?" She turns back to Sasuke and holds out her hand politely. "My name is Haruno Sakura. I already know you, Sasuke-kun, but…Well…" Sakura trails off as she wonders if she said the right thing.

"Yeah! My name is Uzumaki Naruto! I'm going to be the best ramen maker slash eater one day, so don't you forget it!" Naruto holds out his hand with a peculiar cheesy grin on his face.

They all slowly begin to introduce themselves. The names spill into Sasuke's head, none of which that were proverbial. He tries to memorize them, he tries to recognize them, he tries to, and he tries to. The only that stand out the most is the blonde haired leader (Naruto) and the pink haired girl (Sakura). Much to Sasuke's disappointment, none of the names trigger anything in his head.

Sasuke begins to wonder whether or not he should introduce himself. They claim to know him, yes, but he can already hear them whispering behind his back, about what he should be, how much he's changed, how much they miss the old him. Sasuke chooses a time when Naruto and Sakura were distracted to move away.

Maybe he should transfer to a different school.

A different Sasuke, a different school (and a different life).

**Prologue Part 2**

Laminated memories are lying on the table, with smiling faces etched onto them for as long as they can hold on. His finger traces against that one, his favorite, the one before fate began to take its rage on the two brothers. Alluring eyes (that maybe should belong to a girl) narrow slightly as daydreams try to commute in and out through his head. He attempts to filter the forbidden ones, the ones that bring nightmares and seem to cause horrible weather. He scours them down until they are merely nothing but an impossible hallucination.

He checks his watch and sighs. Thirty minutes before he should leave to pick his younger brother up from school. Right now, though, he wishes that he could stay here, in this haven filled up to the brim with vivid fantasies. But everyone knows that such illusions are fake.

He prays that they are real. If not, he prays that he will stay in them forever and ever. For there is his younger brother, holding a shocked expression at having a camera right in his face, bundled up in winter clothes like an overprotected child, with snow falling around him and on him, framing his face and somehow causing every single detail of him to be magnified into something beautiful, something irreplaceable.

But he also knows that they do not have to be magnified to show such splendor.

Uchiha Itachi smiles that gentle smile that has been locked away only for two occasions, when he's alone, and when he's with his brother.

The picture is tucked away into its rightful place, hopefully to be kept there forever, never to fade away. They are his last hope to cling onto the past, to recollect his beaming face that never seems to manifest any longer.

They are his last hope to cling onto the past, a past that maybe he should let go of.

**Prologue Part 3**

Every sound reverberates in this place. It's classic in empty spots like these, but there was something too anomalous about it in this household. That is just one of the facts Uzumaki Minato records into his notebook as he searches the Uchiha household that was forsaken that one day. For some reason, _he _was chosen to look at this case. Sure, a detective is supposed to, but Minato abhors cases that have to do something with anyone his son's age or younger. The quandary with that is that the older Naruto gets the more limited cases he has to take.

_A hate I have to get over. _Minato unconsciously scribbles it into the notebook, notices, and scratches it out quickly. He sighs, running a hand through his slightly rowdy (they have been tamed before, but not this morning) blonde hair. As he approaches the kitchen, the smell of blood is still evident. Minato tries not to distort his face in disgust, primarily because he knew that would be rude to the dead.

The outlines of the bodies are on the ground, one of a female that was partly on the table and partly on the floor, and another of a male who was near the doorway. Minato carefully stepped over one of them, frowning. Uchiha Fugaku, a man he knew personally (that doesn't mean he likes him much). Minato keeps frowning when he stares at the female's outline – Uchiha Mikoto. He did not know her personally, but he saw glimpses of her every once and a while. She was…no, _is _a beautiful woman.

The sleuth runs the facts through his head yet again, hoping that he did not miss anything – one thing could ruin the entire picture that was gradually being colored in by the painter, who is Minato himself. At the moment, the only thing that is clear is the outline: what happened. Now is the time to figure out why and how. To Minato, the _why _is more important than the _how, _as it should be for everyone that is searching for the _x_ in an equation.

_No one other than the residents was in the house during the time of the murder. Uchiha Fugaku and Mikoto were in the kitchen. The whereabouts of the two brothers, Uchiha Itachi and Uchiha Sasuke are presently unknown. _That would not do. The likelihood of one (or both?) of the brothers committing the crime is high, much to Minato's chagrin.

_Uchiha Fugaku and Uchiha Mikoto were both stabbed to death. No fingerprints were found on the knife for an unknown reason. _A fight, perhaps? The detective is a father himself, he knows that children (mostly adolescents) always fight the urge to kill their own parents (possibly themselves, as well). What would drive a child to murder their own parents? Minato runs another hand through his unruly spikes, noticing that he still has to fix his habit of jumping to conclusions.

_According to the autopsy, Uchiha Mikoto had no signs of struggle. _A typical mother. I'll give my children anything, even my death. Okay, maybe not a typical mother, Minato admits. But it seems typical of Mikoto. Always over protective of the boys that everyone knew were bound to slip away sooner than she thinks. Minato would not know, though, mainly because Kushina, his wife, died at childbirth. He figured that she would have been that overprotective of Naruto, as well.

_According to the autopsy, Uchiha Fugaku showed many signs of struggle. _A typical Fugaku. The chief of the police force in Konoha, Uchiha Fugaku. He seems fearless when you first set your eyes on him, but through the years of working with him Minato had to notice something about him that was off. Sure, Fugaku always placed his life on the line for work, and he hides the fear of losing his life pretty well, too. But something suspicious constantly bubbles up in the sleuth's chest, and he swears he can always see a glint of fear in his chief's eyes – fear of death? Maybe.

_Uchiha Sasuke has had amnesia ever since the murder. _

Well, that left some hint, a starting point. Interviewing the survivors is always an option – not an option, actually, but a necessity. Uchiha Itachi is on his next list to interview, but the fact his younger brother is the one that has the amnesia due to something (shock, most probably) is a leading point.

Minato does not know the brothers personally, but Itachi's ingenious skill at everything he does and Sasuke's indescribable character had to reach him one day. The solitary thing that left a lump in his throat is the thought that both brothers were prime suspects.

**Prologue Part 4**

Sasuke waits outside while the school empties itself out until it is just a building. Teachers are still inside correcting tests, checking over homework, watching teens for detention, and tutoring in-need-of-help kids. Sasuke can barely comprehend all that was being taught to him that day – all the unfamiliar terms, all the unfamiliar friends, all the unfamiliar customs. This entire world is unfamiliar.

He had also heard that the old him was a straight A student. Do they (Itachi?) expect him to do the same? His brother's status of being an academic genius and an athletic player in all sports reached Sasuke's ears during the whole school day, and how they look forward to see how he progresses even with his amnesia. Sasuke does not care. All he wants now is to go home.

A car pulls up near him. One of the only recognizable things around here to Uchiha Sasuke. He reaches the trunk of the car and tugs it open, placing his already overweight backpack inside. When Sasuke seats himself in the passenger's seat, Itachi sends him a tiny smile matched with a slightly anxious gaze.

"…What?" Sasuke demands, avoiding his brother's stare. Is he expecting him to take out a piece of paper and shove it in his face, saying, _hey, look, I got an A+! School is easy, Aniki, a piece of cake… _Sasuke sees Itachi's faint reflection on the mirror, a longing look for something unknown. He instantaneously wishes that his older brother would stop looking at him like that – he's not the Sasuke he once was. Sasuke's fingers dig deep into the armrests of the leather seat he is sitting on, trying to drift off into a world where things were perfectly fine (where, possibly, he would not exist).

"How was school, Sasuke?" Itachi asks, turning the radio down a little. Sasuke glares at him. The movement of turning the radio down is like asking someone to surrender, to talk. The raven haired boy refuses to tell his older brother anything. Not now. Not while he's in a crappy mood. Sasuke turns the radio up louder than it was when he first entered the car.

Itachi's hands tense on the steering wheel and relaxes again, almost reluctantly.

**Prologue Part 5**

Everyone will stare at Uzumaki Naruto in surprise if they find out that he's good with most household work – everything but cleaning. Cooking, fine (ramen rocks, and the girls love a man who can cook). Fixing machinery so you do not have to waste money calling for someone, fine (manly thing, to be able to do that). Cleaning, um...(problem against it?) His father is continuously out doing work on detective stuff, leaving the blonde to do as he pleases.

Fix a meal. Unenthusiastically do homework (hopefully finish). Watch whatever's on TV. If homework still is not finished, finish it. Grab a random snack while playing video games. If bored with that, chat with others on computer, or play violent games on computer. If father is home, fix a dinner. If father isn't home, fix dinner anyway (RAMEN!). Watch TV. If you have to (scratch that, want to), study. Go on computer for any random thing. Stays on computer doing any random thing. Go to sleep or stay awake while staring at ceiling. Whichever suits you, Uzumaki Naruto…

That little drabble that Naruto had made for himself is posted on the refrigerator door, sending him some sort of reminder to do whatever he skipped in his boring home life. For Uzumaki Naruto, school is more exciting – and he has no idea why, himself.

In between playing video games and chatting on the computer, the phone rings in the house. The arbitrary blonde decides to wait until the answering machine picks up, and then changes his mind when he checks the caller ID. It said _Uchiha, Sasuke _on it. Confusion ripped through Naruto as he began to wonder why Sasuke was calling him, but he realized (took him a while, too) that he'll find out.

"Hey, what's up, Sasuke?" Naruto chirps while he holds the phone by his shoulder. He holds a controller in his hand as he mercilessly mashes the buttons. He reaches for the bag of chips that lay close to him, takes a handful, and shoves it into his mouth the Chouji way.

"Uh…Well, you seemed to be the most trustworthy out of the group," Sasuke confesses slowly. Naruto blinks, finding the word 'trustworthy' being the complete opposite (much to his own annoyance, anyway) of what truly portrays him. Sasuke persists, and the blue eyed boy can not help but notice that his voice is shaking. "I just wanted to know what I was like before I lost my memory."

"Uh, sure, Sasuke, wait a sec," Naruto says, reaching over to the game console and shutting it off. He is considerate enough to focus completely on a conversation like this because his friend sounds very serious. Seriousness is something that the blonde usually does not comprehend, but friends are a different matter (friends are everything!!). "Okay, where should I start? Your voice wasn't as deep as it is now, for one thing. Then again, we're supposed to be going through 'changes' now, so I guess that's natural…" Naruto delves deep into his mind, trying to recall the old Sasuke (far away…?). "Don't take it personally, but I don't know _you _yet, so it's hard to try and make differences."

"It doesn't matter. Pretend you're telling a friend who doesn't know the old me." Sasuke's voice is rushed now.

Naruto decides not to waste any time. "Sasuke was (is?) a pretty happy person. He had some sort of innocence that made him untouchable – can't really explain it, maybe your brother knows, but he kept a lot of secrets about his life at home. He got average grades at everything except for math; he was a real whiz at that. His favorite color was lighter blue, and he'd sometimes take things too literally. Teachers often favorited him and I don't know why. Uh…He avoided talk about his older brother for some reason. He was pretty fragile at athletics, so…he wasn't so good at that. And…we were like best friends."

Naruto wonders if it is okay to sound sad while talking about this. This is Sasuke, after all.

"Thanks, that's all I needed to know, I guess," Sasuke said, his voice soft. The other boy hangs up the phone without saying good-bye – to Naruto, that is a sign meaning that he's anxious about something. Is he wondering about the same things Naruto is? He stares at the wall and begins to ponder this, hoping to come up with a solution.

Questions run through Naruto's head. Is it wrong to pretend that the Sasuke on the phone with him now different than the Sasuke he was talking with a week ago?

Then again, is it wrong to pretend that the two Sasuke's are the same?

**End Prologue**

Ah, prologue. It was planned to be Chapter One, but I realized it seemed too short to be a chapter. Oh well. Hope you enjoyed!! Please review!!

Spoilers from Naruto Shippuden Manga are scaring me! If I don't post in a while, you'll know why. You have been warned.

KoneKo


	2. Mistrust

I'm gonna keep holding onto this fic for as long as the idea stays fresh in my head

I'm gonna keep holding onto this fic for as long as the idea stays fresh in my head. Still a big change from my original writing style, but I think I like this one slightly better (makes me feel better about myself).

For those who want me to update To Unknown, I'm sort of brain-dead on that one. I have half writer's block. Sorry!!

Dedicated to Light Is Gay! Never ending support from her, as always.

**Warnings: **Some weirdness…One-sided ItaSasu.

Standard disclaimers apply….

**Chapter One: Mistrust**

_Come let the truth be shared, no one ever dared._

_Muse, Sunburn_

**Mistrust Part One**

They are laminated, too. They are memories in a different way. The rectangular cards all lay themselves down in a precise order on the bright screen of the computer. He drags a King of Hearts into its rightful place – into the pile of hearts. Next, King of Spades. King of Diamonds. King of Clubs. When the last card is placed, the cards each take a turn to jump out and cover the screen, showing that the player has won.

Uchiha Itachi sits back into his chair, watching the screen anxiously. Solitaire is a good game to take your mind off of something…Or in this case, to put your mind to work.

Itachi closes his eyes as he tries to erase the incoming memories that are deluging his mind and burning themselves into his eyes. His younger brother used to love it when the cards would begin cascading down the screen.

**Mistrust Part Two**

The white-haired man clicks his tongue a few times before answering the door. Everything in Konoha is busy, recently. It is a big city (and it is called a village _why?_), but the news of the extraordinary Uchiha family's massacre with only two brothers alive spreads around quite swiftly. The Uchiha were treated like celebrities, with the father who somehow rules the criminal world with an iron fist, the gorgeous and compassionate mother that many men chase after hopelessly (why did she choose Fugaku again?), the prodigious Uchiha Itachi who skipped many grades and is on his way to graduating college in the next year despite his young age, and the bright young Uchiha who (he has to admit, is sort of shadowed because of his older brother) might have turned half of the men in Konoha into homosexuals.

"Hello?" he lazily answers the door.

"Kakashi, long time no see."

Kakashi blinks, crossing his arms and studying his visitor. Uzumaki Minato does not visit often, only during some sort of crisis where his genius alone cannot comprehend a case (or something like that). The blonde is exactly the same as he was the last time he saw him: the unmanageable blonde spikes and the never ending straight and white-toothed smile that Kakashi had to be somewhat envious of.

The white-haired man knows that Minato doesn't like to beat around the bush. The visitor instantly begins to explain. "You've heard of the Uchiha parents' deaths, I assume? Yes, of course you do." (As usual, doesn't wait for answers.) "I'm investigating about their death, but…you probably know that I have problems with cases like these." (Just nod, Kakashi, he won't let you say anything until his rant is over) "From what I know, no one was in the house other than the residents during the murder; the victims were both in the kitchen, but the location of the two brothers are unknown. Fugaku put up a fight and Mikoto did not. They were both stabbed to death. Uchiha Sasuke has amnesia after this tragedy, and I presume that it's because of shock."

Minato invites himself in and seats himself on the couch, resting his elbows on his knees. Kakashi nods and the officer continues on. "So…The one thing that I know for certain is that the two prime suspects are the Uchiha brothers themselves…But for some reason, I doubt its Sasuke."

Kakashi sits down on the couch opposite of his preoccupied friend, keeping his arms crossed. "Why?" is the only thing the man can manage.

"Why?" Minato shakes his head with that smile again. Kakashi raises a white eyebrow, but remains silent so that he can speak. "Uchiha Sasuke, who was…I don't know, the epitome of innocence back then? Uchiha Sasuke, who probably wouldn't hurt a mosquito even if its sucking the blood out of him and leaving him with an uncomfortable itch just because he knows that the blood is for the mosquito's children? I know that it's wrong to infer like this, but…"

"I understand what you mean," Kakashi responds gradually. "But…are you saying that _the _Prodigy, Uchiha Itachi killed them?"

Minato's grin weakens and his eyes are cast downward. "I'm not saying that. Or, at least I wish that I'm not. What I really want to say is that the brothers didn't kill them. Then again, it's what I _want_ to say."

**Mistrust Part Three**

Sasuke clutches onto the sides of his shirt, pulling it closer to himself and clenching the fabric tighter as his bare feet connect with the cold, wooden ground. The house is dark, the sky is dark, the streets are dark, and everything is dark except for that small light in his brother's study. The last thing the young Uchiha wants is to waste extra money on electricity, and the first thing he wants is to find out more about his brother – sneaking into his study would help, wouldn't it?

The door opens in a quiet way, a way doors shouldn't open. Sasuke has learned (from old scary movies) that creaking doors are supposed to freak people out, but he believes that doors that don't make any noises at all are more mysterious. It's abnormal; something is wrong.

The breath that Sasuke is holding in abruptly releases when he sees his older brother, hunched over the table, sound asleep. The brother that is awake shuts his eyes and approaches his elder, placing his head between his two shoulder blades _(what are you doing, Sasuke?). _There it is that pure, virtually exotic smell of his older brother. Sasuke inhaled deeply, then began to breathe at the same pace as Itachi. A diminutive smile dances across Sasuke's face until Itachi stirs.

"Sa…su…ke?"

Sasuke jumps away from his brother and steps towards the door, his heart racing _(it's something to be embarrassed about, right?). _His held breath releases again. Itachi is still asleep. The raven hair knows not to make the same mistake twice – he turns off the light that Itachi had left on and left the room, shutting the door behind him and striding back to his room.

But Sasuke had to go to sleep with the disturbing thought that his older brother dreams about _him_ at night.

**Mistrust Part Four**

Communicating with the victims basically comes first (well, if they're alive, which they aren't, so that is crossed out). Witnesses and possible witnesses comes second (or first). In this case, Minato wants to avoid such a thing. Adding in the fact that Uchiha Sasuke has amnesia, he does not want to traumatize him even more with the thought of the one person he (possibly) trusts killed his parents, the parents that he did not, and will never know.

The plain house is coming into view. One of the residents there is someone that may know quite a bit about Uchiha Itachi, primarily because of two reasons: one, Itachi had tutored her in the past (according to his son), two, she's probably one of those girls who drool over the amazing local celebrity that the boy (man?) is.

"Hello?" a recognizable girl with hair similar to the color of cherry-blossoms opened the door, her emerald eyes blinking in slight bewilderment. Lucky for her that her parents aren't home, because most freak out to find a police man standing in front of their door. It's happened before – parents will get scared with the fact that _their _child has been doing something wrong. Well, mostly parents with teenagers.

"I'm Uzumaki Minato, detective on the Konoha Police Force. You're…Haruno Sakura, right?" Hold out badge. Look the little girl straight in the eye. Your last name shall give you salvation, for she is a close friend of your son...

"Oh! Yeah, you're Naruto's dad right? Uhm…" Sakura ponders a little deeper into my spoken sentence. Minato sees her body tense with the words _Konoha Police Force. _"Uh…Why are you here, sir?" Minato smiles, no teeth. It's usual for someone to start calling you 'sir' once they realize you're a police. Do something wrong, say something wrong, and you or your friend might get arrested for typical teenage wrongs.

"Please, drop the formalities," the detective says, holding up a hand and inviting himself into the house again. Sakura makes another confused face and shuts the door behind her, biting her nails and fixing her slumped posture, just in case. Minato seats himself on a dining chair, speaking before the teen could say a thing. "Haruno Sakura, don't worry, you did nothing wrong."

A smile again, with teeth, when Sakura lets out a sigh of relief. "But does that relief mean that you did do something wrong?"

The girl straightens up as if she was shocked by static electricity. "No, sir, I…" Sakura starts scrambling for words, but Minato lets out a chuckle.

"Just joking around with you. Now, down to business." Minato puts on his serious face, and Sakura takes the gravity of the situation that is being shown on the visitor's expression like a thirsty traveler in the desert. "You have heard of the Uchiha parents' deaths, right?" the girl nods. "I've been assigned to the investigation of the crime, and there's two people that could have killed Uchiha Fugaku and Uchiha Mikoto. Now, can you tell me everything that you know about Uchiha Itachi?"

Sakura's eyes widen; apparently she's smart enough to know that Itachi's one of the prime suspects that Minato is speaking of. Like the detective, she knows not to waste time in trivial questions like _Why Ask Me? _"Well, he's really smart, as you probably know. He doesn't talk much except if it's on a topic that he's interested in. From what I know, Itachi's really close to his younger brother, and Sasuke was really close to him. I heard that sometimes they would sneak out of the house for a while. Itachi is a pretty serious guy, but no one heard anything about his love life. His social life isn't too big, either – he mostly keeps to himself. Everyone thinks that he only opens up to his younger brother. If you want to know his relationship with his parents, you're asking the wrong girl."

"Alright. But…does Itachi seem to have a murderous aura to you?" Minato covers his mouth right when the words left his mouth, but Sakura did not sense that movement.

"Murderous? Well…He started acting really odd three months ago. I don't know about murderous…but what do I know? If you want my opinion…The 'murderous aura' that you're talking about seems to have something to do with his parents…"

**Mistrust Part Five**

"Uh, okay. No, don't worry; I'm used to it by now. No, I'm not implying anything. Yeah, sure. Bye." Naruto places the phone into its designated place and sighs. His father is busy at work again, and is working overtime…again. Naruto believes that Minato likes his job too much, but, in truth, his father despises the job – that is why he has to do it. When Minato tried to explain that to his agitated son, Naruto, being the straightforward and unambiguous person he is, did not understand such a statement.

The blonde closes his eyes and sits down onto the couch, staring at the ceiling. The case that his father is working on is the Uchiha murder case. Naruto is pleased to find out that the mastermind, his father, is working on this case, but a suspicion has been bubbling in his chest for a while now. The news that Minato's case had to do with his best friend's parent's murder only strengthened the flame under that suspicion.

Naruto decides to put that suspicion to the test.

**Mistrust Part Six**

The daze that the elder Uchiha has been in dissolves when the racket of the broken doorbell that the apartment has rang through the house. He flinches, and considers leaving whoever the visitor is out in the cold winter weather of Konoha. Unluckily for Itachi, the arriving intruder has no patience. Itachi hears a growl and more noises out of the busted doorbell, each following the next. Rolling his eyes, he opens the door to see an annoyed Uzumaki returning his glare.

Itachi's eyes does not falter at the appearance of this boy. "Sasuke isn't home right now," he announces, ready to rudely shut the door in the fourteen year old's face.

Naruto, being the clever (really, he is) boy he is, sticks his foot into the room and follows his father's example by inviting himself inside. "It doesn't matter," the teenager said in a (uncommon) serious tone, crossing his arms and standing in front of the doorway. "I want to talk to you."

Uchiha Itachi raises an eyebrow (now,_ this_ is rare), but his hard gaze on the younger boy still does not waver. He jerks his head to the side, to the living room, and says, "Sit down; we'll talk about whatever you want to say." When Itachi's back is turned to the blonde, a small smirk appears on his face, knowing that his compliant answer has puzzled the boy. Did Naruto expect him to say no?

Naruto sits, and then begins. "My father is working on the case of your parents' murder."

The prodigy does not even bat an eye, but a more concerned expression appears on his face. "That's good. I hope they find out who did it." Itachi's stomach twists because of his doubtfulness that had engulfed him suddenly. Would it be so bad if they found out who killed them?

"But since Sasuke's my best friend, amnesic or not, I thought that I should look into it myself."

A truthful smile now manifests on the elder's face. "Yes, I expected that much." Itachi has no clue how that reply angered the young boy. He decides not to say anything else unnecessary. "Well…was that all you wanted to tell me?"

"I've got a few leads, but they're sort of stupid if you really think about it…" Naruto shakes his head like a dog who was just pulled out of water, then continues. "But if you really, really think about it, they make sense." Itachi raises his eyebrow, as if to ask _and? _"Can you honestly answer this?"

"…Yes." Itachi wonders if he is lying or not.

"Did you kill them?"

Itachi stops his body from stiffening just in time; if he did, then Naruto would take that as a yes. A debate has opened in his mind, trying to find out what answer is right or not. The blonde's hard gaze is indefatigable, much like his own when the conversation first started. The Uchiha attempts to meet his gaze, to answer, just _answer…_

"I'm home. Uh…Why're you here, Naruto?"

"Uh…Sasuke! Sorry, I just…uh…I have to go now. Bye!"

**Mistrust Part Seven**

_Well so much for that, _Naruto thinks, kicking a stone out of his way as he walks back home, pretending that it's Hyuuga Neji's head. Nothing was beat out of Itachi, but Naruto does not know that the answer was about to be spoken, and his last chance might have been used already.

Naruto pulls out his cell phone and flips it open, calling a close friend of his. He groans when the message, _'Hi. You called my phone, Haruno Sakura's, but I'm not here right now. You might want to call me back later or leave a message after the beep. Bye!' _The blonde taps his foot with annoyance and started talking when the mechanical noise was sounded.

"Sakura, its Naruto and I have a problem – and it's something really serious. It's not what you think, because it's about Sasuke. Call me back when you have the time, okay?" Naruto hangs up the phone and kicks the Hyuuga Neji rock even further away. He hopes that he can get to the conclusion before his father does – just in case it's something dangerous.

**Mistrust Part Eight**

_The night sports a full moon and stars. Some daze has fallen on Konoha, some sort of anxiety…of what? Two figures sit on a wooden bench, enjoying the rare peace and quiet of the park. They sit away from each other, one on each edge. One is avoiding the other's gaze – the other is staring right at him._

"_Something is wrong. Sasuke looks uneasy, too. Is it your parents?"_

"…_No."_

"_Don't try to hide it. Everyone can tell that your family has been having problems with each other for a long time now. Itachi, if you don't tell anyone what's going on, it's just going to get worse…"_

"_You have nothing to do with it, Shisui. It's our problem, not yours. I have to go now…Sasuke's probably looking for me."_

"…_Itachi."_

"_What is it now, Shisui?"_

"_Nothing. Go ahead."_

Kakashi opens his eyes and curses under his breath. He should be thinking hard; not sleeping…The white haired man brings the dream back under the microscope of his consciousness, examining it, trying to remember where he saw that last. A park, in the middle of autumn, Itachi and Shisui talking to each other…Watching them talk to each other behind a tree.

Where does that ring a bell?

**Mistrust Part Nine**

He hangs out of the window, watching the cars drive by and gazing at the stars as they appear in between the wispy clouds. Konoha does seem to go to sleep at night – everyone seems to be asleep, only occasionally a car would zoom by, and the moon seems to be the hobo's nightlight. Looking at the world like this does not make it seem as bad as it really is.

Sasuke jerks up when footsteps sound behind him. A hand is placed on his shoulder, and for a second he thinks that it is his mother that he does not know (and will never have). But the strong grip gives Uchiha Itachi away, and Sasuke closes his eyes, hoping that his brother does not ask for his old self back (it's bound to happen, isn't it?).

"…Itachi nii-san, what do you want?" Sasuke asks quietly. An odd feeling is burning in his chest as a dizzy feeling mixes itself in with his emotions. Déjà vu is what it is. Something like this happened in the past, and Sasuke knew it…But _what? _

Itachi sits himself down next to him, reaching his hand out to touch his younger brother's cheek. Sasuke winces, but this is not the first time his brother had touched him so intimately. Still, the young boy could not get over the freezing feeling that rushes down Itachi's fingers into Sasuke's chest, causing his heart to jolt in an uncomfortable way. Sasuke places his quivering hands on his knees as the elder of the two stares into the younger's with no hesitation – he has made up his mind.

"Sasuke, what do you think of me?"

Sasuke's hands stiffen, and his brother notices the act. His throat dries up rather swiftly and something clogged his throat. What does his brother want him to say? Should he speak the truth or build a universe of lies to match what Itachi wants? A lengthy pause stretches across their little chat, breaking both of their wills to reinitiate the lost conversation.

Itachi pulls his hand away in a hasty motion, like he was electrocuted by Sasuke's skin. He attempts to say sorry, but the words almost come out in a jumble. Instead, he stays silent, just to keep his cool and to not make a fool of himself in front of his younger. The discussion seems to have ended, until the courage to speak is given to one of the brothers.

"You're my big brother. You're the one who really reached out to me in the few weeks that I have lived. You seem to be the only one who looks at me and thinks of me as someone separate from the old me, who thinks of me as a real person." Sasuke shuts his eyes, allowing the truth to spill out of him, praying that what he said would satisfy whatever the sudden thirst his brother had. "That's…all…"

Itachi's eyes are downcast. The raven haired, younger boy held his breath, his hands clutching his knees, knowing that the wrong answer just had to come out of his mouth. Immediately, Sasuke wishes he can take those words back and replace them with something different, maybe something not that disappointing, perhaps?

"I see."

The frail bubble holding frustration burst at those two words. Itachi is about to walk away, but Sasuke grabs his arm, eager to find what his brother really thinks of him…Eager to hear the words that might make all the difference.

Another silence descends, but no words had to be said.

Itachi turns around, and Sasuke can see the shadow of something fierce in them. Instead, sadness covers whatever really is hidden in them, only revealing a mourning brother…or a mourning something more. Sasuke lets go of his elder's arm, not quite understanding the silent solution.

The hand is back on Sasuke's cheek.

Somehow, the wall meets Sasuke's back.

Itachi's lips crash onto his brother's, sealing a sinful act but still feeling the urge to sin even more. His tongue isn't afraid to demand entrance almost immediately. Sasuke feels his brother's hand fisting his raven spikes, and a fear bubbles up in his chest. He had always had his suspicions, but it all ended up in _incest?_

Sasuke tries to take in a breath, but fails because of a crushing weight against him. Everything around him seems to be magnified. Suddenly, he is on the outside, looking in. In his mind, Sasuke is standing at the door, watching two brothers wrapped in each other's illegal embrace, one of which is wearing his face.

In reality, he's in his older brother's arms, lips crying out for more but instead expressing their desire with a sinful lust…

"No, stop." Sasuke pushes his brother _(brother!) _off. The push is weak, but enough to snap Itachi out of whatever trance he was in. "I don't want this from you…I…meant what I said back there. You're my brother. My only big brother. Nothing more." Sasuke refuses to look his brother in his eyes as he walks out, needing some fresh air.

The guilt starts to kick in once he is out the door, joining Konoha in its dream of night, becoming a part of the scenery, like a wild animal in its habitat. Sasuke regretfully imagines Itachi's hurt expression when he dashed out of that room, not accepting his proposal to start a different life…

Sasuke's old life.

**End Chapter One**

Okay, now tell me, was that that bad? Review, please! Don't just favorite/alert it! Thanks for reading; the next chapter should be up as soon as possible!!

KoneKo


	3. Promise

You know, when I thought about giving up on ItaSasu, I read the new Naruto Manga Chapter

You know, when I thought about giving up on ItaSasu, I read the new Naruto Manga Chapter. I literally screamed. Seriously!!

Is my writing getting boring yet? I hope not.

Standard Disclaimers Apply.

**Warnings: …ItaSasu. Duh…**

Dedicated to Light is Gay!

**Chapter Two: Promise**

_No, you'll never be alone. When darkness comes you know I'm never far, hear my whispers in the dark._

_Skillet – Whispers in the Dark_

**Promise Part One**

An officer just left telling a detective a small morsel of information that they had been holding onto for quite a while. Uchiha Sasuke was found knocked out on the kitchen floor along side his father, and Uchiha Itachi was standing near him, with an emotionless face.

More information to nibble on. Excellent. Minato chews on one of his pens while sitting down in his office, pondering every last detail of the Uchiha crime that he knows. Gathering everything from what Haruno Sakura told him, what the facts told him, and what the police force knows, it all seems to be pointing to this one particular person…

Who else could it be but Uchiha Itachi?

**Promise Part Two – Flashback**

"Daydreaming again, Sasuke?"

Sasuke blinks, and then looks up at his mother with a small, yet guilty smile. He plays with his food for a few more seconds before pushing away from the table and saying, "I'm done." Mikoto shoots her son with a stern gaze; wanting Sasuke to finish up (he's really underweight!).

The son does not seem to notice his mother's stares. He rubs his neck while approaching his room, anticipating the moment when Itachi will come home. Sasuke lies down on his bed, a grin still dominating his face. He stares at a picture that is lying on the bedside table – a picture of him and his brother, one big smile, one rare one, but the same emotion expressing itself on their faces. Itachi's arm is around Sasuke's waist, and Sasuke is playfully punching his older brother's shoulder.

Sasuke grabs his cell phone (can't use the home phone – parents will find out) and calls up Itachi, itching to hear his soothing voice in his ear again.

Itachi picks up. He knows it is Sasuke. "Sasuke, couldn't you wait until I finished class?"

A large grin. "No. What, you got chewed out for having your cell phone on? I wanted to talk to you."

"How about we make this quick? I love you, Sasuke."

Smile widens. "I love you, too."

The refreshing thought is that they mean it a lot more than they should.

**Promise Part Three – Flashback**

He places his mug of coffee down and massages his temples. As much as he'd like to say that his son was not changing at all, he couldn't. It's true – something's wrong with the boy (isn't he a _man _yet?). Lately, Itachi had been absentminded in everything he does, only perking up when it came to certain subjects that he had interest in, like his younger brother, Sasuke. He's even been acting differently, as in letting himself open up to others more (sure, it's a good thing, but it's just not like him) and even letting out a smile more often. Itachi's grades have been suffering slightly from this phase – nothing to be extremely worried about…

But Uchiha Fugaku couldn't help but feel that something is going on in his household that is completely _wrong. _

**Promise Part Four – Flashback**

"Sasuke-chan, Itachi-kun, we're going out for a second, alright?" Mikoto chirps cheerfully, catching the attention of her lounging sons. She brushes a raven strand behind her ear as she kisses Sasuke's cheek, hesitates when Itachi sends her glare, ignored the warning and kissed the older brother's cheek as well.

"How long is a second?" Sasuke asks nonchalantly, glancing at his brother several times with his curious eyes. Itachi didn't return the looks, but a minute smile is appearing on his face, causing Fugaku to cringe and dive deep into thought as to why Itachi is smiling.

Mikoto heads towards the door, and replies, "About two hours or so, why?"

"Just want to know."

Fugaku frowns. Itachi's smile is growing wider. Mikoto notices Sasuke sporting a smile, too – a rather mischievous one. She brushes off the a few thoughts that bubbled up in her head and ambles out the door. Her husband gives his sons a noticeable glare before leaving the house, almost remorsefully letting his hand leave the doorknob as he shuts it behind him.

"Well…let's go," Mikoto says with her voice a little more serious than it was a few seconds ago. Fugaku nods, knowing that both of the parents are thinking the same thing. Something is up. All they have to do is figure out what. The mother seats herself in the passenger's seat, looks up at the house to see that Itachi just closed the binds on the windows.

In the middle of the ride to the restaurant, almost on purpose, Mikoto tells Fugaku that she forgot something important at the house that she absolutely needs to bring to the dinner. Her husband groans, shaking his head in aggravation as he takes the next U turn and heads back to the house. Mikoto's manicured fingernails dig into her wrist, feeling a tight knot tie itself in her throat. Whatever is going on in that house whenever they are away, she is going to find out.

Mikoto strides into the house, leaving the man waiting in the car. She can feel Fugaku's eyes on the back of her neck – she knows that he knows what she's trying to do, and is willing to sacrifice a stupid dinner. She is thankful that he's letting her go into the house alone – so he's more frightened than she?

Closing the door behind her, Mikoto starts to regret every step that she is taking in her own house. It is eerily empty, but she swears she can hear something coming from one of the boys' rooms. Her heart is racing as the noise gets louder, but Itachi's room (it's coming from there, she can tell) is somewhat soundproof – she can't quite make out what is being said or done in there. Mikoto feels like a young, prying teenager again as she presses her ear gently to the door, only able to hear a few noises: A cry of _'Aniki' _and a few moans.

Mikoto's eyes widen and she feels her entire body twist itself. It couldn't be…could it? Her hands rest on the doorknob, debating whether or not to open it and find out for herself and possibly regret it, or leave it and never find out, and possibly regret that, too.

She flinches when she hears a scream that definitely belonged to Sasuke. A mother's instinct forces her to open the door, just to scream for herself. Her hands go up to her face, a two surprised yet tired gasps are heard. Mikoto's eyes go wide as she tries to keep her balance, her mind setting up an emergency court room – stay here or leave!

There are her two most beloved sons, both completely naked, one clutching onto his elder's bed, face down, but his innocent _(innocent?) _eyes watching his mother, and the other quickly pulling himself out of the younger, his own eyes cast downward, almost in shame and embarrassment. The sheets and one of Itachi's hands are covered in cum and the entire room smells like sex.

"What is going on here?" Fugaku demands, stomping in, seeing the view, and rushing out.

Sasuke grabs one of Itachi's shirts and pulls it on as fast as possible, wanting to help his mother recover from whatever scarring that he caused. Itachi curses under his breath as his younger brother ushers his mother out of the room, giving Itachi some privacy to change.

Silence is upon the Uchiha household, Sasuke not knowing what to say to his mother, Mikoto not knowing what to say to her sons, Itachi just wanting to be alone or with Sasuke, and Fugaku banging his head against a wall, wondering where the heck he had gone wrong with his sons.

**Promise Part Five – Flashback**

In his apartment he sits with his cousin who is basically kicked out of his own home for a reason that is being explained. He is only half listening; for he already knows about the forbidden relationship in the first place (Itachi doesn't know that, though). He figures that his young cousin needs someone to vent to, and he knows that he is always the person Itachi goes to first.

"Itachi, Itachi, you are such a naughty little boy," Shisui jokes leaning back in his chair, trying to make a smile appear on the younger man's face. They both know that the statement is true – Itachi always had a fetish for cute little boys (according to this particular information, a fetish for his own younger brother) and has been hiding many dirty secrets from his parents (then again, who isn't?).

Instead of giving his older cousin the smile that he expected, he shoots him a glowering scowl as he pulls his hair tie away from his black locks, allowing his long hair to be free for a while. "Shisui, can I stay here for tonight? There's no way I'm going to stay inside that house, at least for today."

"Sure. You can use the extra bedroom…But I have a feeling we'll have a cute little visitor tonight." Shisui sends Itachi a devilish grin as he stands up and enters his own room, leaving the younger to sit in the chair with his eyebrow raised.

**Promise Part Six – Flashback**

Her shoulder is still shaking, her eyes remain wide, her heart does not seem to be calming down anytime soon. Her husband places his hand on her shoulder, attempting to calm both of their nerves. For some reason, the two of them felt better with Itachi out of the house and away from their innocent young Sasuke. Sasuke's attempts to calm his mother down didn't seem to work, so the boy had retreated into his room.

"Mikoto, it's…okay." Fugaku hates how childish that sentence is, but it is the only thing he can manage. He wants to believe that it is all alright, too, but all his mind is on now is what would happen of people on the outside find out and start trashing their noble family name until the nobility transforms into the crazy.

Mikoto vigorously shakes her head, face buried in her hands. "I _knew _it. I _knew _it."

"We both did."

"It's okay, right? Nothing bad will happen to them if they stay that way…right?"

Fugaku hesitates. He thought that for once, he and his wife would have the same opinion, but he is proven wrong. Mikoto wants to keep the boys together; she wants to accept their prohibited relationship, she wants to love their boys no matter who they love, like a mother should. Fugaku keeps quiet. Sometimes the strict father wishes he is like his own wife, to be able to accept such foolish and immoral things.

The one and only thing that Fugaku completely understands in his mind is that whatever was going on in the house while they were gone is just completely _disgusting._

**Promise Part Seven – Flashback**

Itachi spends his night staring at the dark ceiling, mind on nothing and nothing on his mind. The room seems colder than usual, yet he anticipates waking up all sweaty and clammy next morning. He turns to his side, presently watching the moon climb the stairs to midnight. He feels his throat go dry. Something is missing tonight, and he knows exactly what it is.

The front door to Shisui's apartment is opened. Lights are turned on – Itachi can see it under the door crack. Two people are speaking, both in hushed tones. Do they really believe that he is sleeping? Itachi glowers at nothing again while blowing an errant strand of hair out of the way of his eyes. The lights are turned off again, one pair of feet moving away. Another approaching.

Itachi lies back down, closing his eyes, pretending to be asleep just so that whoever is bothering him would go away (unless they're rude enough to interrupt someone's sleep, then, that would be a different story). The intruder came closer, very slowly. Itachi resists the temptation to twitch and retaliate, to say _Go Away! _But a feeling arose in his chest that told him to stay still.

Once the presence gets close enough, Itachi almost fails at hiding a smile. There is just that aura; that smell; that _feeling _of the one he knows that he loves that is lingering in his room. He feels Sasuke lie down on top of him, taking in deep breaths until his breathing is the same as his. Itachi opens his eyes slowly, watching Sasuke's eyes that seem to glow in the darkness as his arms wrap around his younger brother.

"I can't sleep without you," Sasuke admits softly, blushing slightly. Itachi does not reply – he moves in closer, placing his lips gently on Sasuke's. The younger boy pouts when Itachi pulls away, but the angry expression vanishes when Itachi confesses back,

"Me, either."

Sasuke buries his face in his brother's chest, his bright and wide eyes closing to attempt to welcome sleep. He smiles and whispers, "I can feel your heartbeat." Long silence. Then the young brother talks again, sleep locked away for the both of them tonight. "Can you…promise me something?"

"Hm? What is it?" Itachi asks softly, kissing Sasuke's forehead.

"If I say it you have to promise you'll keep it or else," Sasuke retorts childishly.

The older of the two smiles. Sometimes it is just that childish innocence and beauty that makes his day better.

"Anything for you."

**Promise Part Eight**

The boy dares to reenter his own apartment the next morning. Sleep was unknown to him the night before, the trauma of his older brother's feelings still lingering in his head like a bitter aftertaste that just won't go away. The apartment is empty – Sasuke decides that it is safe to pretend that nothing happened last night, but he can only hope that Itachi will not bring anything up.

He sits down on his bed, taking off his shoes and socks, frowning at how sweaty they were because of his meandering around all night. His mind is allowed to wander, why not his own body?

Sasuke stares blankly at his bedroom wall, wanting his own life to be that empty, blank slate. He never asked for this life. He never asked for this torture. He never asked for this pressure. He never asked for these thoughts. He never asked for his older brother's love…Not him.

Not _this_ Sasuke.

**Promise Part Nine**

No progress at all. Minato shakes his head, wondering why he is so frightened to go and interrogate Uchiha Itachi. Why couldn't he just get this mind numbing case over with and confirm or correct his assumptions? Minato absentmindedly doodles a stick figure crossing his arms and shaking his head. He scowls at the little creation that is possibly just representing his own conscious. Either the stick figure is saying, _No, don't go talk to Uchiha Itachi, _or, _No, don't just sit there. Talk to Uchiha Itachi! _

"Hey, Minato," Kakashi arrived behind him, making the baffled man jump in shock. "Wow. Did I scare you? Anyway, did you make any more progress?"

Minato does not answer. If Kakashi is smart enough, he should figure it out. No, hell no, he has not made any progress whatsoever…The white haired man raises his eyebrow and is about to leave, but Minato stops him. "Wait, Kakashi, you knew the Uchihas pretty well, didn't you?"

Kakashi turns back around and nods. "Yes, but I don't know them _that _well. A little better than others, though. You want me to give you information, don't you?" The detective nods, and Kakashi sighs in expiration. "Well, let's see what I can remember. Itachi was abnormally close to both Sasuke and Shisui, and he kept plenty of distance between him and his parents. Ever since Shisui committed suicide, Itachi kept to himself and the entire family seemed to be avoiding each other. Then it came up to the day when Uchiha Mikoto and Uchiha Fugaku were murdered. That's all I really know."

"What do you mean by 'abnormally close'?"

"People joked about incest between Itachi and Shisui or Itachi and Sasuke, but they all denied it."

"…Now this is getting interesting. Come on, Kakashi, let's get going, then," Minato, feeling surprisingly motivated, pushes off of his office chair and marches out of the stuffy room, gesturing for Kakashi to follow behind him.

Kakashi smiles. "It's about time."

**Promise Part Ten**

He has decided. He's going to take the risk. Sasuke knocks on Itachi's study door, and then turns the golden knob. He sees his brother flinch and turn around to meet his gaze, his eyes rather glum. Sasuke's throat goes dry for a second as he remembers last night – the night when Itachi kissed him.

"I just want to ask you a question," Sasuke manages to say.

Itachi pivots his chair back around, back to his brother. "What is it?" he asks softly.

"What…were are parents like?"

Itachi seems to wince again, maybe not in a verbal stab of pain but just a shock of surprise. Sasuke had predicted that his brother would think that he is asking about the incident of last night. But in reality, all the raven haired boy wanted is to avoid talking about it. It seems too _awkward _for a real conversation. He looked it up on the Internet that morning. _Incest, _that's what they called it. For an unknown reason, it feels like such a nauseating yet matchless word.

"Our parents?" Itachi turns his chair back around, looking a more relaxed. "Well…Our mother, Uchiha Mikoto, she was one of the kindest women around. Our father, Uchiha Fugaku, was a figure to be frightened of in the neighborhood, because he was the police chief and all…All in all, our parents did seem to be a very unlikely couple."

"Not that," Sasuke protests. "I mean…what were they like to me…to us? As our parents?"

The older brother rotates the chair back away from Sasuke. "They were…" Mystification brews in Sasuke's head (why does he avoid talking about our parents?) "Our mother seemed to prefer you. You'd always go to her for help on anything and you'd help her around in the house. You kept striving for Father's attention and affection, but he was so buried in work that he never paid much attention to you." Itachi sighs. "But really, they love you."

"What about you? What did they think of you?"

"…Sasuke, I have work to do, maybe next time, alright?" Itachi stands up and ushers him out of the room, shutting the door completely.

He still doesn't get it. Itachi avoids talking about their parents. Itachi placed stress on the 'you' on the sentence: _But really, they love _you.

**Promise Part Eleven**

"What do you want?" The resident of the apartment opened the door only a little, allowing the visitor (or, as he would call it, intruder) a small peek into the house and at who they are talking to. The resident is in a bad mood today, just having a talk with his younger brother about something important…a talk that he just wanted to avoid.

"Uchiha Itachi, this is Uzumaki Minato and Hatake Kakashi, detectives of the Konoha Police Force. Please, open up," Minato orders relatively cheerily. Itachi eyes him skeptically, but stays still for only a few short seconds before he growls and halfheartedly opened the door. The blonde trespasser invites himself in, seating himself on the couch and getting down to business.

"Now…I just thought you should know that you're our number one suspect in the murder of your own parents," Minato declares boldly.

Itachi stops himself from flinching, or lashing out at the detective. All he wants to say is the truth, but the truth is dangerous right now…he chooses to remain silent and just right back at Minato, right in the eye. He opens his slightly dry mouth to say a normal _"I see." _or something like that, but Minato continues on.

"Let's just get down to this then. I don't care if you're answering honestly or dishonestly, just answer. Did you kill them?" Minato's gaze hardens on the younger victim, who doesn't fidget under that gaze.

"Sorry, sir, but I can't say," Itachi replied flatly.

"You can't…huh?" The sleuth shakes his head and exchanges a glance with Kakashi.

"Is there anything else you need?" Itachi wants the intruders out, but he couldn't help but feel obliged to be a little hospitable. Maybe he can get the information that they know so he can think of a way to twist it into something else, something that is far from the truth that makes today the nightmare that it is.

"Yes, actually, can we talk to you and your little brother about that night?" Kakashi asks for Minato. "It's just a few questions, nothing that harsh."

His eyes narrow. Itachi doesn't want to involve Sasuke…Sasuke doesn't need to know the truth. Not now, not soon, not later, and hopefully not ever. He convinced himself the night of the incident that he would keep it all to himself, so that his younger brother could live a life untainted and whole, but now he knows he's failing. Itachi stands up and calls Sasuke down from his room. The younger brother instantaneously marches down the staircases and sends the two men in the living room a distrustful glare.

"What…is going on?" Sasuke glances at his older brother for an answer.

"They're just going to ask us a few questions," Itachi responds simply. He nods at the two of the interrogators. He has no fear that his brother would find anything out. At least, not yet. Even if Sasuke does know, he is hopefully not stupid enough to reveal anything to the police.

"Well then, Sasuke what was the first thing that you remembered when you woke up in the hospital?"

The young boy tenses up at the question. Itachi had only been living with him for a few weeks, but he already knows that he has distaste for talking about his amnesia. Sasuke hates the fact that he can't remember what those around him can, like he drank too much alcohol at a party that began many new inside jokes with your own friends, except in this scenario, he doesn't even remember his friends. Sasuke's own school abilities dropped a little until he got used to the curriculum at the school, but his ability to talk to and become friends with almost everyone dissolved completely.

"Why should I tell you?" the boy challenged. Itachi holds back an exasperated groan.

"Uchiha Sasuke, are you aware that we are the police?" Minato retorts briskly. "Now, onto our question. What is the first thing you remembered when you woke up in the hospital?"

"Oh." Sasuke mumbles in defeat when he hears the word 'police'. He squirms a little while thinking of how to answer the question. Itachi can tell that Sasuke does not want to reveal much, or if he could, anything, even to policemen. "I didn't remember anything…just a blank slate."

"Hm." Kakashi scribbles something onto a notepad and Minato shoots out another inquiry. "Do you remember anything about your past?"

"No." he answers automatically and swiftly. It sounds as if he has been asked this ten million times before by friends, nurses, teachers, et cetera, et cetera… "I can I leave now?" he glowers at his older brother, expression saying, _'Why are you forcing me to do this?' _

"Do you know of your parents' death?"

"Yeah…What about it?"

"Do you know that your brother might have killed them?"

"…Now I do." Sasuke turns and gives a second glower at his brother. Itachi bites his tongue, wanting to spill some smart (and true) remark at the time. "I don't see any point on trying to beat information out of me. I don't remember a thing, ok?" Everyone can hear the frustration in his voice. Itachi begins to think that its better that Sasuke doesn't remember anything – he would have taken the death of his parents harder.

"Alright then, Sasuke, you can go back," Kakashi says with a smile that Itachi believes to be fake. The raven hair nods nonchalantly and leaves the room. Kakashi turns back to the prime suspect; the grin that was on his face disintegrates. "Time to ask you a few questions, Uchiha Itachi."

Itachi raises an eyebrow. "Is my last name super glued to my first name somehow? Just leave it Itachi or something."

"Fine, Itachi-kun. Where were you the night of the murder?" Minato begins as Kakashi puts his pen to the ready.

"In the house."

"Was there any special activity in the household, like a party or something?"

"No, that day was a typical one."

"Did you witness the murder?"

"Again, Minato-san, I can't answer," Itachi responds brusquely. He crosses his arms. Kakashi scribbles something into the notepad and whispers for Minato to keep going.

"What time did you find your brother collapsed on the kitchen floor?"

"About…eight o'clock at night. I'm not sure."

"Do you know of anyone who might have done it?"

"…No."

"Are you sure?"

"...Yes." _(No, that's what I really think.) _

**End Chapter Two**

Ok, I'm sorry that it took me a while to update. I had a fever, and then heavy allergies…It might take me another while longer, because I have this big school project coming up that I have to work on and stuff. Damn.

Well, I hope that this chapter opened up some new thoughts for you to ponder on whenever you're bored enough to think about my story.

Please review, okay??

KoneKo


	4. Research

Long intro

Long intro. Sorry, I have lots to say.

Alert: After To Unknown or when this fic is over, I'm going to start another one very soon. It's actually pretty good, and for those of you who miss my old writing style, it'll be a mix of this one and my old one. I won't go too crazy over descriptions but I won't be too blunt either.

Well, here's your promised chapter! I'm actually trying to write the lemons that I promised you. It's like a person trying to lose their virginity, I swear! You have to find the right time, right place, be in the right mood…...

_Light is Gay: Lemons Give Me Pimples!!_

This fic is dedicated to her, even though she doesn't like my writing style in this fic. Damn. She told me that she might give up on fanfiction and anime. Those of you considering that out there – DON'T!

Naruto Manga makes me a little happier now. (If you didn't read it, then skip the rest of the intro and go to the story below!) When I was reading chapter 401, dramatic and sad music was playing in the background, and Madara was saying, "He (Itachi) killed his friends, superiors, his girlfriend-" everything whizzes to a stop and I say….

"He had a _GIRLFRIEND!?_ ITACHI, YOU BETRAYER!"

**Chapter Three: Research**

_So what if you can see the darkest side of me? No one will ever change this Animal I Have Become._

_Three Days Grace Animal I Have Become_

**Research Part One**

At night, he looks like Sleeping Beauty. During the day, he looks like Snow White. Watching him is now his only salvation. The only time he can watch in is when he is asleep. Hands stroke the pale (or pallid) cheek. Regardless of how white his skin is, he feels so warm. His finger twitches as he runs them down to his brother's neck, to his shirt collar.

Itachi scowls, but stops himself from pulling away. Sasuke groans in his sleep, turning to his side, facing away from his brother (an unconscious sign of rejection?).

Eventually, he convinces himself to lie down next to Sasuke, just to feel that warmth again, just to feel that…_feeling _(no other way to describe it). Itachi wraps his arms around his younger brother, burying his face in Sasuke's dark, raven hair. He tries not to take it all in too quickly – even if he did, he can still sense the differences. Sasuke used to smell like strawberries. Sasuke used to talk in his sleep. He used to…He used to…

The sinking feeling in Itachi's chest just descends like an anvil. His mind races faster than his body. He gently turns Sasuke around to face him, tugging off his shirt and kissing his neck. Relief ran through his body when he realizes that Sasuke is still a deep sleeper. A (mischievous) smile appeared on Itachi's face as he seizes his brother's lips, not caring if he was conscious or not.

But when he breaks away, Sasuke's eyes flash open; fright and shock are being expressed clearly. _"Itachi! What are you doing?!" _

Instincts tell him to say sorry. _He does._ Instincts tell him to never do that again._ Maybe. _Instincts tell him to get over it.

_Never. _

**Research Part Two**

Sitting on the front porch and looking for your father to drive by when he's a busy man is ultimately tiring. Naruto realizes this as he yawns and takes a large gulp directly from a two liter bottle of Mountain Dew. Knowing Minato, he is going to come late and very late. Staying awake doesn't seem like a difficult task at first, but it gets harder when you've been staying out there for five hours and have no determination left in your body to keep your eyes open.

Naruto presses a button and lights up his watch, groaning when he sees that it's only eleven o'clock PM. Minato does not usually come by until one in the morning. He is tempted to stay inside and wait it out in front of the ever-helpful television. The temptation is not strong enough – Naruto knows that at times his father changes his mind about going home and goes back to work.

_What a workaholic._

Lights. Minato's mustang. Naruto abruptly stands up, reflexively knocking over the Mountain Dew bottle but not caring because it is half empty anyway. "Oi, Dad! Don't you dare pull away! I need to talk to you!" He yells as loud as his fatigued body will allow him. An annoyed neighbor shuts their window as Minato pulls into the driveway, marching up the stairs and meeting his son on the porch.

"What is it?" He asks, body and expression matching Naruto.

"Can I help with the investigation about Sasuke's parents' death?"

"Huh? No. Why would you want to help anyway?"

"Because Sasuke's my friend."

"No, it might be dangerous. Besides, don't you have lots of school work to catch up on?" Minato looks at his son wearily. "Okay, I don't care what reasons you have or how you can help. You just can't help. It might be more serious than we think it is, and I don't want to drag you into this."

"But Sasuke's my friend!"

"I heard it already. My answer is no!"

Crotchety Minato walks into the house, almost slamming the door behind him. Naruto scowls at his father, crossing his arms and plopping down onto the bench, but standing up again because he sat on the puddle of Mountain Dew. _"Shit," _he mutters, taking his phone out and calling Sakura.

"Hey, Sakura? Sorry I woke you up, but…No, I didn't wake you up? Oh. Girl sleepover thing. Yeah…I get it. Oh, back to business! My Dad said no, but I'm doing it anyway… You're helping, right…? Okay, good. See you tomorrow…Bye."

It doesn't matter to the young Uzumaki. He had already made up his mind – he's going to help. Not once has Naruto denied that bad feeling that appears in his stomach when something is wrong.

Besides, since Sasuke's his best friend (knowing it or not), he's going to take matters into his own hands.

**Research Part Three**

Feeling obliged to be hospitable isn't a very appealing thing. Making tea is among his least favorite things; despite the fact that he knows he is your traditional Japanese male beauty. Either way, the new-found knowledge that the world and the supposedly hidden away truth could come out and crush your life can make you act differently. That's what Itachi feels as he pours the green tea into the empty cup and sits down, letting the hot water warm his frigid hands.

"Must be tough on you," Kakashi says, feeling awkward in the silence that his host had generated. "I mean…I really don't think you did it but…"

"You think I did it," Itachi murmurs in an accusing tone. He never means to say what he says half the time, but words are so slippery that they spill out like the cascading waves of the Niagara Falls. "You think that I killed them." He hears his own voice crack and is wondering if the rest of him will, too.

The visitor sends his host a slightly disappointed look. Being his teacher for one year in high school, he knows the basic idea of the landscape of Itachi's personality – mature, quiet, hard-working, friendly around those he knows, at times quick-tempered, but doesn't get into much trouble. One of Itachi's main traits is that he doesn't show what he truly feels. Even so, here he is, displaying what he feels like a child who got to bring his pet to school.

"Itachi. I really hope that it's not you." Kakashi's gaze hardens on the younger man. "And I'll believe you if you say that you didn't do it."

Itachi looks up, returning that hard gaze. "_You _will."

"That doesn't matter. Did you do it or not?" the older man crosses his arms hoping for an answer that can clear his head of his ugly suspicions.

"…I can't answer." Itachi hears his voice crack again. He knows he sounds guilty – in a good way or not? Even he doesn't know. As long as the police don't find out the truth, it will all be fine…he convinces himself that as he settles on eluding the detectives.

"Why not?"

Itachi shrugs and leans back, the air around him relaxing him because he has finally made a decision. Kakashi twitches at the casual sign, thinking that the clever young adult could have something dangerous up his sleeve (ugly suspicions).

"Because you don't need to know."

**Research Part Five**

"It isn't everyday you get asked to be interviewed by a detective that's working on a murder case," Tsunade irritably murmurs to herself. Just when she thought she could get a breather from all those sick teens and adults, a man with golden, unruly locks comes in, flashing his police badge to everyone in the room and talking like he's the boss. Well, her life would end if she provoked a police man, so Tsunade for once kept her opinions to herself. "So…What do you want to know?"

"You're the Uchiha's doctor, am I right?" the man (Uzumaki Minato, is what he declared) said while flipping out a half-used notebook and a chewed on pen. The doctor held back a scoff – so much for _professional. _And besides, why would he ask if he already knows? He already came barging in here.

She makes the rare decision to be a good girl and follow the rules. "Yes." Her body freezes when an image that was on the newspaper a few weeks ago flashes in her mind. The image depicted a house, an abandoned one, and a picture of the two who owned it and their two sons. The Uchiha. The ones that were…as the media called it, 'brutally murdered'. Tsunade swallows a lump in her throat – even if she's a doctor, death isn't something she's quite used to.

"Then…can you tell us anything about the family's medical records? Or, more specifically, the two boys, Uchiha Itachi and Uchiha Sasuke?"

"What would the medical records do to help?" Tsunade challenges. Avoiding trouble is her main goal, but if she can't reach it, the truth would have to be spoken. A recollection of the first time that they came to her for an appointment sears her memory. She barely knows them, but the feeling of a connection – a bond – being lost still ate her away (maybe also because of the loss of one customer…minus a customer subtracts money, too!).

Minato sends her a dark glare. "Just answer the question, Tsunade-sensei. I don't have all day." He taps his pen against the notepad impatiently. "Anything peculiar, like paranoia or constant sickness?"

Tsunade avoids scratching her head to try and get her memory straight. She could always go to the file cabinet, but she can't help but feel like she is being tested – and to the renowned doctor, a challenge is something that she cannot back down on.

"They both seemed to be fine – they got normal sicknesses every once and a while – but that's natural. Sasuke used to have a fear of shots, but that's somewhat natural, as well…" she digs into her brain, trying to pinpoint that one thing that is heavily buried. "I did hear they had some family problems, and that Itachi sometimes took extra medication for no reason. Maybe it's just because young adults like him need more reassurance…"

Minato raises his eyebrow. _"Anything _else?"

Tsunade is slightly taken aback by the rude tone. She purses her lips and shakes her head. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got work to do."

**Research Part Six**

Sasuke shivers as he pulls his jacket tighter around himself. The weather is not favoring him today, nor was it yesterday or the day before it. Luckily, Itachi chose the weekends to molest him in his sleep so that he can avoid him during the day a little more successfully (there's tests to sign, the common _'so, how was school'_ question…things like that). He brushes a raven lock out of the way of his eyes as he settles down on the curb of the busy street. No one minds him – everyone sits down on the curb. A few give him a sympathetic look, as if they knew what is going on in his troublesome life. Sasuke returns their empathy with a gloomy glower. Some people he recognizes – he sat down on this same curb at the same times so much that he begins to be familiar with a few of the city-dweller's daily routine.

Despite all the bustling around him, the time away from his home gives him the time he needs to think. Think about life as he knows it so far, think about what might happen, try to find out what others are thinking around him and figure out what to do next. Life is already tiring, and he has only lived for a few weeks – maybe only a month. Sasuke's like a new born child – except born in the horrible time of life called adolescence, puberty, death, school drama, home drama, and illegitimate and one-sided brotherly love.

The problem for Uchiha Sasuke is that he's not sure if the relationship was one-sided in the first place.

Were the brothers lovers in the past?

If they were, is Sasuke obligated to be now, too?

**Research Part Seven**

"Well, well, if it isn't Kakashi," the high school teacher flashes his old friend a white-toothed, shimmering grin paired up with his thumbs-up in a cheesy position. "Long time no see! What brings you over to this school? Planning on re-joining our faculty? We can use your knowledge!"

The white haired man forbears from saying _"Oh, would you shut up" _to his so-called 'old friend'. He pulls out a clean-cut notebook with a brand new black pen and sits down on a vacant chair. "Gai, I'm going to have to ask you a few questions regarding the two Uchiha brothers, Uchiha Itachi and Uchiha Sasuke." He pauses to see the energetic man's reaction.

At least the energetic man knew when to calm down and be serious (sometimes). His toothy smile fades away as he crosses his arm and sits across from his interrogator. "I remember – is it about that unfortunate murder? Sasuke has amnesia from it, but I heard from his teachers that his grades got considerably better since the murder."

Kakashi sighs. It's just like Gai to try to look at the positive side of things, even if everyone else around him is imagining things falling into despair (conceivably one thing he envies about the bouncy and embarrassing man). "Just tell me about their academics and athletics," he says briskly. Kakashi already knows about both of their school lives, but Minato told him that it is necessary to find pure proof from their current teachers.

"Well, Itachi is, as you know, superb in both fields. His college school should have more information so…yeah.

"Sasuke was better at athletics in the past, but now his academic skill has risen. The only thing abnormal would be Itachi's astounding skill." Gai shrugs, thinks for a second, and then resumes. "There have been rumours flying around the school about pressure from parents – with Itachi being so excellent; it would put more pressure on the young Sasuke…"

"Alright…that's all I needed to know." Kakashi does not want to spend too much time in the presence of…Maito Gai.

"Who's your number one suspect?" Gai's curiosity had taken control of him as he switches roles with his old rival and friend. When Kakashi remains silent, the teacher closes his eyes and leans back into his chair. "It's Itachi, isn't it? That's what everyone thinks. I don't want to be part of the crowd, but…"

"I know what you're going to say," Kakashi says in a whisper. "Maybe the crowd's right."

**Research Part Eight**

Sakura knocks on the door and rings the doorbell, unsure of which one to pick. Something about the way she stayed up all night, drunk on pixie sticks with Hinata, Ino, TenTen and Temari makes her feel especially jumpy and over emotional. It's either that or just PMS. Whatever.

"Hi, Sakura," her friend opens the door and greets her with a straight-toothed grin. "Sorry I interrupted your pillow fight or whatever you girls were doing."

"You just need a better attention span, idiot," Sakura declares as she steps into the Uzumaki household and crosses her arms. It's in the middle of winter, and Naruto dares to put on the air conditioning? She shakes her head and turns abruptly. "Well? I have time until ten o'clock. Where should we start?" She bounces her head with enthusiasm, knowing that she is in for either an adventure or a mystery (or possibly even both!).

Naruto shuts the door behind him and looks out the window, and then looks back at his friend. "Is it okay if we break some rules? If it is, then…We're going to have to sneak into the old Uchiha household. Before you say anything, I know my dad already searched that place, but we know more about Sasuke and Itachi than he does. A little extra searching wouldn't hurt, right?"

Despite the doubt in the cherry blossom's stomach, she nods as a sign of her approval. "Okay, off we go!"

The blonde opens the door and walks out with his friend, attempting to solve a mystery before a trained detective – attempting to solve a mystery that could change everything about their best friend…and perhaps can change their entire relationship forever.

**Research Part Nine**

When the words _"I'm home!" _ring through the living room, he jerks up then relaxes again (then again, that's what he does to every single noise that comes from his little brother's mouth). He stares at nothing as footsteps approach the room, stopping right at the doorway. Itachi feels eyes boring into the back of his head, trying to find out what exactly is going in that incomprehensible and unconventional brain.

"Why." It isn't a question.

"Why…what?" He wants to take back those words, like he always does. He wants to shut his mouth forever, so that he can't hurt anybody with the harsh burden that words give others. Itachi sees that his own voice sounds arrogant – if not, wounded. Either way, it isn't the tone that he wanted.

"Why do…" Sasuke hesitates, falters. Almost stops completely. He draws in a breath (Itachi expects the worst). _"Why do you do this to me?!"_

Itachi shuts his eyes, yearning for his body to shut down, even for a few moments, so that he can catch his breath, think clearly, find out what in the world is really going on and fix it. He tries not to show whatever emotion that he needs to show – the one weakness he refuses to display, and the one weakness that he has to display.

"You aren't going to answer…are you?" His voice doesn't sound angry.

It actually sounds…sad?

_The one thing that makes me give in…_

Itachi stands up and almost rushes to his brother, trying his best to hold himself back, to keep the door that is his emotions shut. Instead, failure is the best thing for him (and he knows that), and fail is among the things that he will do right now.

_...is…_

Sasuke backs up against the wall, afraid to touch his own blood brother's skin, afraid that his own brother would touch him. This tiny piece of him yearns for Itachi's touch, that same small piece that he knows won't manifest completely unless summoned.

"You." A word that is only a whisper, that both can barely hear.

Sasuke mouths the word _"What?"_ as he fails at pulling away from his brother. Itachi's hand is resting on the younger's shoulder, moving up to the neck, to the cheek, fingers tracing his lips. Sasuke is frightened to look in his brother's eyes, though from this point on, Itachi decides not to give in to vacillation – he looks Sasuke right in his dark eyes, trying to find the part of his beloved brother that he recognizes…a part of Sasuke that loves him back.

"You do this to me." The answer that doesn't make sense is instantaneously followed by a kiss, a kiss between brothers – a tentative one, a passionate one…

But one that remains mostly one-sided.

**End Research**

Sorry for the shortness of it all, but I decided that quality is better than quantity and that I haven't updated in a while so I should just update. I hope you liked this chapter! Please review!!


	5. Key

Yay

Yay! Update! The parts are very short, maybe because I'm in a versatile mood today. Sorry if there's some OOCness in this chapter, I wanted it done as fast as possible, so yeah, it's depressingly short.

Another reason for the shortness is that I wanted it done by Itachi's birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, OUR FAVORITE SEME!! (He's 23!!)

It's getting pretty hard to update To Unknown. Maybe I'm too accustomed to this writing style. Hmm. Well, I'll try my best, those who want me to update that one!

Naruto Manga equals…a blender of good and bad to make a delicious smoothie. It's sort of making me 'kyaa' over it at the moment. I can be a fan girl, can't I?

Standard disclaimers apply. Dedicated to Light is Gay!

Well, here's your promised chapter! Enjoy the feast, my friends!

**Chapter Five: Key**

_Oh, I hate to be the one to bear the bad news. Yes, it is true, I finally fell in love. I fell so hard that I'm killing myself. Yes, I need out…Out of this grave that I've dug_

_Escape the Fate Friends and Alibis _

**Key Part One**

It's getting more and more difficult to get away from Itachi. He checks the doorknob, to see if it's locked. Sasuke is officially getting tired of waking up in the middle of the night in his older brother's arms…if not, with Itachi looming over him almost like a zombie, his pale face almost glowing in the encompassing darkness.

Sasuke wipes his hand against his mouth, the pure taste of his older brother still lingering in his mouth. The occasionally shared kisses are already very upsetting - but even the young Uchiha knew that Itachi had to crack eventually. As far as Sasuke's current memory goes, he's still a virgin…

For now, he only hopes that that won't change anytime sooner than it has to be.

**Key Part Two**

Hatake Kakashi rubs his eye as he looks through the Uchiha records and files, seeing nothing that significant yet. Minato had left him to do the rest of the work for the night, leaving the fatigued and still working man to regret that he told the presently resting blonde that he needed a break.

The Uchiha seems like any normal (if prodigious is normal) family, with just a little more fame than others. Kakashi figures that the only way he'd know how the Uchiha are is if he steps into their shoes and walk their entire lives with them…But that's not easy seeing as the only two that are alive to this day are the two that don't seem to want anything to do with this case.

"Aha!" Hatake yells loudly, stirring some half asleep officers in the next room awake. He stands up while scrolling down the page, describing Uchiha Itachi and Uchiha Sasuke's cousin, and his supposed suicide. Finally, he found something that may be of use to them in this case.

Uchiha Shisui's suicide. Supposedly, he drowned himself in the river, and the rushing waters had somehow washed away his body. Why would a boy like him commit suicide? No one knew. He lived by himself, and was very close to Itachi. He seemed content, with no real emotional or physical problems.

So…why?

The lump that was his suspicions in the back of Kakashi's mind told him that the suicide could be a murder.

**Key Part Three**

Sakura yawns as she checks her watch on the bus. There were no seats near the front, so they had to sit in the back, and she gets pretty car sick if they go over a few bumpy roads or if they've been sitting in there for over thirty minutes. She glares at Naruto, who is sitting across from her. The blonde somehow manages to stay wide awake, though it isn't very unexpected. This is about Sasuke – Naruto's 'best friend for life'. Of course he'd stay awake for days on end for him.

"Next stop, Sakura," Naruto warns. "We're stopping someplace else, first, if you don't mind."

"No. Where?" The sleepy girl sighs.

"Sasuke's. We're taking him along with us." Naruto blinks at Sakura as she gives him a confused expression. "Look, whatever we find out, he deserves to know. We might be able to get his memory back if we let him tag along, too."

"Wow. Never knew you could be smart for once in your life," she mumbles as she rests her head back against the seat.

"Sh-shut up." he stares out the window then pulls his bag over his shoulder. "It's our stop. Hey! Wake up!" he prods at the half-asleep girl, and then shakes her awake when he failed. She groans as she grabs her purse and steps off the bus, following the wide-awake blonde.

**Key Part Four**

Sasuke stares out the window until Itachi's car pulls out of the parking lot and vanishes along the road. He opens the door and lets out a held breath, that feeling of being suffocated by nothing but air evaporates.

He sits down on the couch, closing his eyes, trying to remember anything about what he was before. The emptiness inside of Sasuke is eating him up, making everything else about him the same – just empty. He knows the first thing that he thought when he woke up is _"Where am I?" _Second, _"Who am I?"_ It's that feeling of not knowing anything about yourself or everyone around him…that crushing feeling that no one except for people like him could understand.

_Why me? _Sasuke poses himself. It's that inquiry that everybody asks themselves at least once in their life, and it's always rhetorical. He answers himself, surprised at the many replies that he thought of in his head. _Because your brother is freaking incestuous. Because you're past self might have done something in the past that deserves this kind of punishment. Because God didn't have anybody else to pick on except for you. _

They were awful answers, but Sasuke bought them.

_Knock, knock. Ding-dong._

Oh how he hates it when people can't choose from ringing the doorbell to knocking the door. Or when the knock on the door because they can't find the doorbell and realize it's there after they knocked and rang it anyway. Or when they knock on the door and ring the door bell just so that it makes a cute little tune. Not now. Not while he's already aggravated.

"What?" he growls, opening the door only a little so he could take a good look at whom is trying to intrude. Sasuke's eyes narrow when he spots Naruto and Sakura (not intentionally, maybe just a force of habit, seeing that the blonde looks like his father). "What do you want?" he repeats.

"We want to help you, Sasuke," Naruto speaks in his usual, confident voice, except now it is covered in the icing of nervousness and anxiety. Sasuke's eyes dart to Sakura, who nods rather enthusiastically (either that, or she's nodding to sleep), and then goes back to the bold boy.

"Why would you want to help me?"

"It's for your past. For your parents. Besides, you're our friend. Please, can you open the door?" Sakura exclaims. _(So, maybe she really is awake!)_ The Uchiha hesitates, his hand fiddling with the chain that keeps the door closed as he contemplates whether to let them help him or not. He shuts his eyes, like he's about to do something that can change his life forever, and pulls the chain and opens the door.

Before he knows it, words spill out of his mouth.

"Thank you."

**Key Part Five – Flashback**

Though he had always been a heartthrob, though it never had been hard for him to do anything that is associated with love, he had no idea what to do right now. For Uchiha Itachi, life is a teenage love story about forbidden love – how someone like him tries to figure out what just happened to their heart, and how to find the right person to fix it.

Right now, he knows who he loves. But everyday, he wakes up telling himself that he'll tell whoever it is how he feels. And every night, Itachi goes to sleep, beating himself up over the fact that he chickened out of it. It seemed only natural, because he's still seventeen, a teenager - the age when love is the most perplexing part of your life other than advanced math class.

Today, he knows it's the day.

Today, he's going to tell his little brother, Sasuke, that he loves him much more than what is allowed.

**Key Part Six**

"Here we are," Sakura announces Sasuke steps out of the bus, and stares at the house that stands across the street. Naruto had told him in the bus that they are going to visit his old house - he visualized a spooky house that's featured in one of those scary movies. Despite the fact that the house seems to omit an odd aura, it looks normal to Sasuke.

Haruno murmurs, "Wow. I remember this place. Brings back lots of memories…" her voice trails off as she feels the Uchiha's body stiffen though he's at least three feet away from her. She whispers a small sorry.

_I don't recognize it, _Sasuke thinks bitterly. He reads the Uzumaki's expression, his mouth open. He was about to ask if he recognizes it…if he could recall anything. Naruto shuts his mouth, sensing his friend's distress and seeing the misery in his eyes. The distraught teen scolds himself, as he squints at the house, trying to find anything that could ring a bell. _What kind of person forgets what their own house, where they grew up, looks like? _

Without exchanging any words, the three enter the house. The door is locked, and Naruto seizes one of the pink haired girl's bobby pins and pick open the lock. A blast of cold air hits him, like an air conditioner is right in front of their faces. Someone (Sasuke's not sure who) whispers "Let's go." as they walk in.

Sasuke pulls his jacket closer around his body. _It is colder in here than Konoha's winter…Maybe the cold air entered through a window or something…_The floor creaks slightly under their feet, Naruto reminds them that the house is pretty old (Fugaku liked older houses), so they shouldn't be freaked out. He frowns at the late reminder, and mentally kicks himself for still being a little terrified…not at the house, but at how nothing – _nothing _– aided him in recollecting his lost memories.

"I don't think we'll find anything here," the Uchiha says, making his voice as steady as it can be (it's as shaky as a small dog forsaken in the frigid snow!). The curious blonde gives him a small glare, meaning to say, _"No turning back now." _Naruto and Sakura begin to head up the staircase, up to where they claim to be Sasuke and Itachi's previous bedrooms.

The stairs are disturbingly narrow – it's hard to believe that he had been able to dash up and down the stairs without tripping on the bottom or top step at least once. He lingers on the bottom step as pictures this house, inhabited by his mother, father, brother…himself (why is it so hard?). Would it be picture perfect, or would people be glaring at each other during the photo shoot? He fails at swallowing the lump in his throat, as he tries to tell his two friends that he can't stand being in this house for a second longer (they can't hear him, so he has to stay). The recollections reject the offer to come back to where they came from…and Sasuke starts wondering what's wrong with his mind.

"Naruto…" The lump is still there – it's still tough for Sasuke to speak. His hand rests on the railing as he stares out to the kitchen with his heart in a knot.

"What?"

_Now or never. _

Sasuke rushes up the stairs, just to make sure that the kitchen isn't in sight. "Nothing. It's nothing."

_Don't look back._

**Key Part Seven – Flashback**

For Uchiha Shisui, whenever the doorbell rings, it's one of two people. Itachi, usually. The police, if he ever gets in trouble (which he doesn't, but there's always a possibility). So, when it rings today, he expects the one person who ever decides to stand in front of his door – his cousin, Itachi. He opens the door, and finds his cousin, Sasuke, sporting a rather innocent smile matched with eyes like he's still in dream land.

"Itachi…? No, Sasuke?" Shisui exclaims in shock. "What're you doing here, visiting a poor idiot like me? Shouldn't you be in school?" He crosses his arms and stares down the young eleven or twelve year old (Man, he grew so fast!).

"It's typical of you to be expecting my big brother...I just felt like talking to you." the younger boy squeezes into Shisui's apartment and plops down onto the couch, that smile just a bit wider. "And where have you been? It's the middle of summer." Shisui scowls sheepishly at Sasuke's matter-of-factly look.

"Well, whatever, what do you want and what's in it for me?"

Sasuke's smile weakens, though it doesn't absolutely fade away. He does not look his cousin in the eye as he says this: "Be honest with me…at what age did you feel like you really, really first fell in love? Way older than me, right? Is it wrong for me to feel that way right now? At my age?"

The older man rolls his eyes as he sits on the sofa opposite the inquisitive and perceptibly love-struck boy. "Why're you asking me? Ask your brother, it's typical of him to be more than happy to answer to everything you ask. I'm not exactly a love expert. If you hadn't noticed, I'm living in a rundown apartment _alone. _To add to that, I'd love to keep it that way."

The younger cousin pouts slightly, and then sighs. "Hm. Well, I can't really ask my brother. Not in this situation, at least." Sasuke stands up and brushes his bangs out of his eyes. "I take it from your answer that it depends on the person, and I should do whatever I feel suits me…right?"

Shisui didn't even try to argue that that wasn't what he meant in the first place. Then again, Sasuke probably knew that, and he's just toying around with him (a habit he possibly picked up from Itachi). He murmurs a low, "Whatever. Then I take it from your tone of voice, choice of words and movement, you're going to leave in less than one minute." Two can play at that game – Shisui had mastered the art of backfiring some (a few) of Itachi's smart remarks.

Sasuke blinks, slightly taken aback. "Well. I'll tell you something if you promise you won't tell anyone. Not even my brother. And I promise you, this morsel of information is sort of life-changing." _Okay…Interesting, _Shisui thinks.

"Itachi and I…we're…I don't know, sort of…together?"

"_What?!"_

"Uhm…Let's try that again…I love Itachi. Much more than what's legal."

**Key Part Eight**

_He's not home. _His self-pity tells him that when he pulls into the parking lot. Itachi stares up at the apartment, not expecting to see any light on, figures in the house, or even the luminescent glow of a television. When he opens the door, he doesn't expect a warm welcome or even a welcome at all. The apartment is quiet. Of course Sasuke would take this chance to go outside, take a breather, and get away from it all.

Itachi wishes he is able to do the same…But he understands that it is his turn to be the stronger of the two. He tells himself to find someone else or at least put off his feelings for Sasuke until the trouble with his parents' deaths cease…If the outcome would allow him to do so.

The tired Uchiha shuts the door and leans against it, closing his eyes, recalling the way that his body heated up whenever Sasuke came close to him, remembering that unique phenomenon that made his own common sense become nothing more than a undomesticated animal's instincts. Itachi clenches his fist, standing at a fork in the road – his brother's trust and love, or his own lust for that incestuous love.

Itachi knows full well which choice is morally correct…and maybe he would have had the power to make the right decision in the past. Now, something has weakened Itachi…and he knows full well what it is.

Sasuke used to be his support, his foundation, his everything. Itachi slides down to the floor, knowing full well that his everything may as well hate him because of his uncontrollable, illicit sentiments.

**Key Part Nine**

"Well, bye," Sasuke mumbles as he steps out of the bus and approaches the apartments. The little investigation didn't result in anything, so they came back home empty handed and exhausted. He can't help but think that it was a waste of time, going to his old house and feeling an odd emotion that he can only illustrate as a combination of fear and regret.

He murmurs a low, "I'm home," (force of habit) hoping that his older brother won't hear him entering. Sasuke had seen Itachi's car parked somewhere in the vast parking lot. The apartment is empty, as far as he saw it.

He treads softly on the floor, heading towards his room but stopping at Itachi's. The door is a tad open, as if it is beckoning him to come in. Sasuke is aware of how precarious it might be to enter his older brother's room, especially after their last close encounter with the forbidden, however, a part of him is contradicting himself…

Sasuke opens the door a little wider, and with each step he takes closer to the bed in the center of the room, the louder his heart seems to beat – and the harder his brain throbs. It's almost here. That feeling of recollection…he knows it's close.

Sasuke's eyes rapidly adjust to the dark, revealing Itachi, lying on the bed, sleeping. He tells himself to stop, to go back to his room and get some rest. The aura that is Itachi, that tempting, striking atmosphere, pulls him in. The lock to Sasuke's hidden memories is threatening to break open – escape.

_Is this the key to my memories? Itachi? Me with him?_

For a fleeting, dizzying moment, half of him wants to love Itachi.

After the fleeting, dizzying moment, the other half of him dashes out of the room, the fear of his own brother conquering all.

**End Key**

Again, shortness…and the quality isn't as good as I wanted it to be. I think. I'll leave that judging up to you people! Please review!!


	6. Secret

UPDATE

UPDATE! Woot….My apologies for the long wait.

There might be at least nine or ten chapters left in this. I'm not a huge fan of stories that go on and on, even if I love it. Sorry!

So, it turns out that the previous chapter was sort of crappy (in my opinion) so I need to boost it up a bit. Hope this one meets your standards.

And…I did it! (Present to you all!)

Thanks for all your support so far!

Dedicated to Light is Gay! Standard disclaimers apply!!

**Chapter Five: Secret**

_So let's make this night be our best mistake. So let's take the time to wipe the blood away. Now our hands are tied, and our world is caving in..._

_Story of the Year Swallow the Knife_

**Secret Part One**

He's younger again, he is lying face down on an unfamiliar bed – someone's heat inside of him, someone's ragged breath echoing in his ears, someone's hands giving him pleasure that he has never felt before. This is too realistic to be a dream…that's what Sasuke thinks as he bites his lip to prevent himself from crying out. An incoherent, sudden impulse tells him to hush down…either that, or it's the incoherent, gentle voice that is whispering in his ear as someone pulls his length out of him.

Sasuke's not in control as he turns over, his vision too disjointed to make any sense of his surroundings.

"_Aniki…"_

That someone kisses him again, and Sasuke allows a moan to escape from his trembling lips. He blinks and his dream clears, that someone watching him with oh so memorable eyes…the eyes of his beloved older brother.

**Secret Part Two**

The cherry-pink girl lets out a loud yawn as she stretches, boarding the bus with Naruto again. "I am _sick _and _tired _of this bus," Sakura mutters cantankerously as she passes the bus driver. The drive sends her a glare as she makes her way to the back of the bus, mumbling other things under his breath.

Naruto shrugs as he stands at the door of the bus, his eyes on the window of Sasuke's apartment room. Sakura walks back and sends the blonde a tired glare. "Naruto?"

"Sorry, Sakura. You can go home, I still have something I have to do," he says as he turns on his heel and dashes to the apartment again. Sakura almost runs forward to go with him, but the cramping in her stomach stops her and reminds her that she has to go to sleep soon or be extra, extra crabby in the morning.

**Secret Part Three**

Naruto lifts his hand up to knock on the door, but stops himself. He places his hand on the doorknob and turns it, and barely keeps his balance as the door opens, surprised that it's unlocked. _Sasuke must've forgotten._ He thinks as he shuts the door behind him. The apartment is quiet, as expected from any house at night. Naruto takes a few steps forward, and releases a held breath. For an unknown reason, he doesn't feel sorry for continuously trespassing private property.

"…What are you doing here?" The tired and deep voice didn't belong to Sasuke.

The Uzumaki freezes and stiffens. It's such a classic thing. Getting caught while intruding in the middle of the night. "N-nothing, Itachi," he murmurs quickly. "The door was just…open." He takes a few steps back, ready to dash out.

Naruto's impulse to run out of the apartment is stopped when Itachi shrugs and walks past the boy, muttering, "I don't care what you do, just don't touch anything. I've no time for you." The door shuts behind the older Uchiha, and Naruto releases yet another held breath.

"…What's his problem?" he grumbles to himself as he tip-toes in deeper into the room, having a feeling that his friend is sound asleep at the moment (though he knows through the many times Sasuke had slept over his house that he's an extremely deep sleeper, and is pretty sure that should be among the things that really shouldn't change).

He is about to sneak into Sasuke's room, but then stops when he sees Itachi's bedroom, with the door peculiarly wide open – almost like it's inviting him in. Naruto knows the older Uchiha would never do such a thing, and figures that he left it open…but the attraction is too hard to pass up. He steps into Itachi's room, and turns on a lamp hesitantly (afraid that he may look at Naruto's fingerprints on everything that he touched in the house).

The room is naturally clean and neat, but the bed isn't made. The walls were painted something like a dull shade of red, the carpet black. There were many pictures around, and a large bookshelf on the wall. It seems so painfully normal, like there's really nothing to be worried about – nothing to investigate. Naruto scans the room a third time. This time, something catches his eye.

A picture, sitting on the bedside table, this one unframed. A small smile tentatively reaches the Uzumaki's lips. In this picture, Sasuke is utterly recognizable. In this picture, there's that something in the boy's expression that the current Sasuke lacks. Regretfully, Naruto can't pin point what the missing thing is.

Naruto takes a look at all the photos that now seemed to be scattered around the room, making it a place of memories. As he glances around, his heart seemed to beat against his chest harder, and the back of his eyes began to itch terribly. _How can Itachi stand to be in this room, surrounded by all these pictures?_ He couldn't help but feel that that's why the Uchiha now seems so irritable…why he seems so much more silent.

"_Just don't touch anything." _

The warning made the temptation too great to pass. Naruto opens the drawer that's in the bedside table, his title as 'juvenile delinquent' emblazoned directly ontop of his head.

A photo book. Naruto picks it up and almost opens it, but then he stops himself. Not because of a guilty conscience, but because he sees something a little more interesting.

Itachi's cell phone. He picks it up and navigates himself to his videos and pictures, hoping to let them shed some light on the case (if not, just for the heck of delving deeper into the mysterious man's mind). He picks the second to last video in the device, playing it with low volume as he opens the small photo book.

In frank words, Naruto's jaw drops and his blue orbs widen. He switches to the next video, the next one, and the next one…He turns the page, and there's shock after shock.

Why hadn't he known earlier?

Why didn't he ever know that Itachi and Sasuke were in a relationship?

**Secret Part Four **

Just when a long night finally draws itself to a close, a new, long day commences. Minato had given his son a good talking to, for leaving the house at night and coming back in the middle of the night. Naruto fell asleep, and was still in slumber when the father woke up, ready to leave and continue his frustrating occupation.

Today, it is time to break the news to the surviving Uchiha brothers. Growing suspicions are against the elder of the two, but that does not mean that they can leave Sasuke out of the punishment just because of a titanic gut feeling everybody in the city has. Both Uchihas are to be placed under house arrest. For the time being, their inheritance will be used to pay the rent for the apartment. Someone in Sasuke's class will be assigned the job of giving him the work that he missed – Itachi's teachers have been informed and will e-mail him the missed work.

Minato sighs as he draws his fist back to knock on the door, and he isn't surprised when Itachi opens it before his knuckles connect to the wood. "Minato-san," he murmurs quite silently. The Uchiha steps aside, already full aware of the detective's habit of entering without being invited. "What is it you want?"

He scans the apartment, and says, "Where's your brother? I'd rather tell both of you at once than say something twice."

"…I'll go get him, then," he says dully before trudging towards a door, opening it and disappearing within the room.

When Itachi left the room, someone knocks on the door. Minato opens it, and then mutters, "You're late."

Kakashi enters the apartment, smiling sheepishly. "Sorry. You forgot some stuff at the police department, and I just had to pick them up for you."

Itachi and Sasuke walk into the room, the older brother sporting an aggravated and drained expression _(Since when are visitors allowed to let other visitors in?)_. The younger, just a plain, impassive look with eyes trained on the air hanging between the detective and his colleague _(I don't want to do this). _

"Well? What do you want?"

When Sasuke speaks, his voice seems to be more forceful than his brother's, clutching onto the last fistful of energy that he can summon. He seems to refuse to give the two intruders the flag of defeat by giving them eye contact. Sasuke pulls his shirt closer to him and he stands a good three feet away from Itachi. Minato takes these small morsels of information and stores them somewhere where they can be used for this case.

"We're putting both of you under house arrest. One of the only reasons why you both aren't being placed in jail temporarily is because your father was the chief of the police…and if you ask me, that's not a good reason, but orders are orders," the blonde gets down to business, speaking too quickly for any normal person to comprehend in the early morning. Luckily, the two people he's dealing with are of the Uchiha family.

The younger boy's eyes narrow precariously. "You mean that _I'm _a suspect, too?" Next to him, Itachi flinches, a slight movement that gave away his discomfort.

"Yes. It's not right to exclude you when we have no proof," Kakashi elucidates. He puts his bag down and removes two black anklets that have a tiny contraption attached. "You both aren't allowed to leave this apartment. You're not allowed to take these ankle monitors off; any electronic communication to the outside world will be monitored. As for food and groceries, we'll handle it. If you leave the premises, your probation officer-" he nods at Minato "-will come."

"…This isn't fair," Sasuke grumbles as the white haired man assisted him in placing his guard on his ankle.

"You're lucky no one's pressing charges, or else you'd both be tried in court. Anyway, Itachi," Minato says after both Uchihas were officially locked in their own shelter, their own refuge. "Are you going to tell us anything else about the case?"

"This isn't necessary. Sasuke didn't do anything," Itachi says softly.

"What about you?"

The silent man shrugs. "You've finished your business here, haven't you? Leave."

Minato blinks at the rude tone of voice. He lets out a smile and turns on his heel and walks out the door without saying another word, his collaborator about to follow suite. Kakashi stops, however, and says one last thing: "Do you know anything of your cousin, Shisui?"

"Nothing except that he committed suicide," Itachi says matter-of-factly, his voice completely unaffected by the unpredictable question. Sasuke's gaze whips to his brother, expression is clearly read: _What?_

"I see," Kakashi says as he leaves, ignoring Minato's confused look.

**Secret Part Five**

Naruto had smashed his head against the wall so many times for falling asleep before relaying the _big news _to Sakura. After he attacked himself, he resisted the temptation to faint on the ground – Naruto's head hurt so much that he could just fall into a coma and be happy that way. But if he did fall into said coma, Sasuke would be in this state of confusion for the rest of his life…something even an idiot like him knows is horrible.

With a head still spinning like a top, Naruto picks up his cell phone and calls Sakura. He grins when he hears a promising _"Hello?" _after many rings.

"Hey, Sakura?" he exclaims.

"_Helloooo?" _

_Stupid voicemail, _he thinks angrily as he ended the call during Sakura's rant of _"I'm not here right now, please leave a message after the beep."_ Nowadays, everyone has a voicemail that tricks you into thinking they're there, and half the time no one has the patience to leave a message.

Three seconds later, Naruto's phone rings. The blonde groans when he sees it's her. It's her bad habit, not being able to reach her phone that is buried in the depths of her large purse, seeing she has a missed call, and calls back, wondering what they wanted – something they could have figured out if they picked up the phone in the first place.

"Sakura, you have to get smaller purses," Naruto complains into the phone.

He pictures her rolling her eyes on the other line. "Yeah, well, whatever. What's up? Did you find any information that we can use?"

"Yeah. I can't really tell you, I have to show you, and so can you come over?"

"Argh, why do _I _have to do all the moving? You come over for once; I'm too busy to get out of the house. It's not like you're the only one investigating. I've got some files of the Uchiha. Apparently, they were private, but you know, me and my connections."

"Yeah, yeah. I'll be there in a sec." Naruto ends the call again, and sighs. He checks the pictures that he took in the phone, the pictures that he took of the photos that are hidden away in Itachi's drawer…the photos of the proof of their (clichéd line ahead) forbidden love.

**Secret Part Six**

"Can you explain _why _you never told me about your investigation on Uchiha Shisui last night?" Minato yells, annoyed. He stops the car abruptly when an unexpected red light flashes in his eyes. "It can be vital information!" he runs a hand through his golden locks, swearing under his breath.

"Well, sorry. I never had the time to tell you until now," Kakashi shrugs lethargically. "You know now, doesn't that count?"

The detective gave his colleague a hard glare. "What do you know about it and how would it help us in this case?" A car behind Minato honks intolerantly, and the blonde resists the temptation to poke his head out the window and demonstrate his colorful language to the impatient driver. "Wait, let me guess. You think that someone murdered Shisui, don't you?"

"No, of course not," he replies in a sarcastic tone. He shoots the sleuth a scowl. "Why would I bring it up if I didn't think of anything truly suspicious? The boy disappeared, there was a suicide note, but the body was never found. The police are still searching, but most of them already shrugged it off as a suicide, since a suspect for murder hasn't been found."

"Which one?" the detective challenges. "If you're so sure that he's been killed by someone, who do you think it is? Don't you think that maybe he really did drown himself? Have you ever thought that if there is a murderer, he's already dead by now?"

"Then are you saying that Fugaku-san or Mikoto-san killed him?"

Minato shakes his head. "I'm not saying anything. Kakashi, I thought you were smart enough to know that you can't bring in clues that may not be valid. It's possibly just a bad habit of yours. You function solely on suspicion. I'm not saying that it's not possible; I'm just saying it may not be true. Get it?"

"Yeah, yeah," Kakashi muttered. "I still have a bad feeling about this."

"Hey, we all do." Minato says as he got impatient and used his police sirens to get through the traffic jam.

**Secret Part Seven**

The apartment remained quiet for the rest of the day, Sasuke basically bored out of hell and Itachi…well…the younger boy can't read him for his life. Itachi hadn't uttered a word since the police left the building, and maybe he avoided looking at Sasuke. He does not blame him – with the level their relationship is on (which is unknown to both), neither can stand to be in the same room as the other.

So, to Sasuke, this house arrest is hell on earth, compacted into two brothers who aren't sure if they should act like brothers anymore, two ankle monitors that act as guards who never take breaks and an apartment that houses all of their anxiety and uneasiness.

The younger brother had taken into locking himself in his room, only coming out to use the bathroom, eat, or find some random book or thing he can do and drag it back into his room, while Itachi had the rest of the apartment to himself. It is as if they drew a line with duct tape, claiming their own domains and swearing never to cross to the other side.

Unofficial agreements like these happen seem to happen all the time and both brothers are secretly getting tired of them.

But the wall that took only a few days to build is breached when Itachi knocks on Sasuke's door only to announce one, simple thing: "It's your turn to do the laundry." He leaves Sasuke scowling at his back while letting a few words that he heard Itachi say whenever he carelessly spilled hot coffee run through his mind.

Sasuke begrudgingly stood up and left his safe haven, seized a hamper and marched out of the door, downstairs to the laundry room. An upside to the house arrest is that they're only restricted to the apartment building, not their apartment room. Then again, there's no one interesting that lives in the rest of the small building (there's only old perverted men, women that both brothers would rather not get involved with, and teenagers who have kids or do drugs every hour). Itachi hadn't spent much money on a decent place, primarily because he claimed that it is only 'temporary'. Now, Sasuke is fuming because 'temporary' seems to be such a long time, with all that's been going on.

"What?" he snarls to a girl who is probably only one year older than him that was staring at him while chewing bubble gum fervently.

"You're that Uchiha kid," she said in a tone of voice that Sasuke couldn't identify as anything but annoying. "That kid who, like, forgot everything about his past and stuff?" She blows a bubble and it pops noisily. "Really, I never knew someone of the Uchiha would be stuck in a cheap apartment building like this."

"…Whatever," Sasuke muttered. The girl shrugs and leaves, and Sasuke figures that she's the kind of person who gets pregnant when she gets drunk in a party and has no clue who the father is.

He reaches the laundry, separates the clothes and packs them into one of the machines. He decides against going back to the apartment, and sits ontop of an empty dryer, staring at the dirty ceiling. The rushing noise in the washer is all that Sasuke hears as he waits. Eventually, Sasuke jumps off the dryer and takes the clothes out of the machine and packs it into its partner's cavern. He seats himself on the dryer again, rubbing his eyes all throughout, feeling particularly drowsy.

The Uchiha blinks as a memory of his older brother, sleeping in his room, flashes in his eyes. Placing a hand on his lips, he tries to remember if he actually _wanted _to kiss him. No matter what the answer to that question is, it does not change the gut feeling he has that he knows how to get his memory back – with a sacrifice that may not be a sacrifice. It may be what he wants.

At this point in time, Sasuke wants to lose this composure that he's been keeping up since his memory started and scream something – _anything._

Sasuke flinches. Someone walks down the stairs, and asks, "Are you okay?"

"Itachi, go away," he yells, attempting to focus his gaze at something other than his brother (and fails considerably). Since when did he get the nerve to ask if he is okay? "I don't want to talk to you right now." Sasuke glances at the washing machine, hoping for the cleaning process to somehow magically speed up to give him some reason to walk past his brother and back to his safe haven.

"You're easier to read than you think, Sasuke." Itachi is now standing directly in front of his little brother, and for some reason, Sasuke can sense the determination to do something in him. "You don' t know what to make of me, you don't know what the next step is. You want to remember, because you believe your past self would be capable of going through this…Am I right?" When he didn't reply, Itachi lets out a held breath, as if he was ready to get slapped across the face with whatever words he believed Sasuke had at the ready.

After a long silence of both brothers avoiding each other's gaze, Sasuke speaks. "I've had dreams of something..." the younger tries to relax his body (and fails again). "I loved you in the past. That's why you're acting like this."

"Yes." Sasuke winces at Itachi's lack of hesitation.

"I'm not the brother you love." he has a feeling that he can't hurt his older brother with words anymore – that he can't change the way that he feels. For some reason, that does not stop him from trying.

"I know, but you're still my brother."

"But…"

"And I'll love you, anyway."

The dryer gives out a shrill _bleeeep!_

**Secret Part Eight**

When Sakura opens the door, she is still in her pink and green pajamas and is holding a huge manila file folder that is so full that it looks like it can burst in any second, sending papers flying everywhere. "Finally! Come on in," she says in a low voice. She adds quickly, "My parents are still asleep, and they have no idea that I've hacked into a few files."

"Right," Naruto says, taking his shoes off and following his friend up the stars and into her bedroom. Her room is somewhat messy, with a few clothes strewn on the floor here and there, but everything else is neat. "Here, let me show you what I've got." Uzumaki whips out his cell phone and opens up a folder full of pictures that he had taken.

Sakura takes the phone rather delicately, as if it is a piece of evidence in a crime scene (which it just might be). She immediately recognizes the old, smiling, and familiar version of Sasuke. She can point out instantaneously that the two brothers in the photo don't act so brotherly by the way Itachi's hand is close to someplace where it shouldn't be, by the way Sasuke just looks at his brother, blushing so furiously, and by the way their hands are entwined like they should be together.

There is never any real proof that they're _seriously _together, but anyone can tell. Sakura looks up at Naruto, her face serious. "Why hadn't we realized this in the first place?"

"I don't know. They were both so close, it should have been obvious…" the blonde shrugs. "If they were in a relationship, why did one of them...or both of them do what they did?"

"Ugh, why does everyone assume that it's either Itachi or Sasuke who did it?" Sakura groans. She freezes after her sentence, her eyes widening. The pink haired girl began to mutter to herself, things like, "It's possible…" and "But it can't be!" She opened the fat folder and searches through it, pulls out a piece of paper and shoves it in the Uzumaki's face. "You see this? Just a day before they died, the Uchiha Fugaku and Uchiha Mikoto filed for divorce."

"Huh? How come we never knew this?" Naruto demands.

"Because, the fact that they died outshone this one – the media ran all over it, and this little piece of information was covered. It didn't matter at that point anyway, 'cause they were both dead," she explains briskly.

"Then isn't it possible that they killed each other because they were both so mad at each other? Everyone knows that they were never really on good terms." the blonde suggests hopelessly.

Sakura rolls her eyes. "I doubt it, you idiot."

"Then what are you so surprised about?"

She folds her arms and plops onto the bed, diving back deep into the pond of her thoughts. "We both know now that Itachi and Sasuke used to have an intimate relationship that is possibly sexual, too." Naruto snickered – Sakura kicks the boy's shin. "Oh, grow up. And now we also know that their parents filed for divorce. Maybe they were also trying to kill two birds with one stone."

She pauses, standing up and beginning to pace. Naruto rolls his eyes, muttering something like _"Trying to look smart."_

"The divorce was the stone. One of the birds is the opportunity to end the marriage that wasn't working out anymore. The second…" She stops again, her mind racing. "Let's say that they found out that their sons were incestuous. Maybe they…wanted to separate them?"

"And one of them got mad and killed them?" Naruto suggests helpfully.

"Yeah. It might be crazy, but that's the only theory we've got," Sakura sighs as she sits back down, brimming with pride yet defeated. "But…it makes sense."

**Secret Part Nine**

No matter how hard he tries, Sasuke can't remember how it got to this. It just _happened, _like a car crash, like a gunshot, except maybe better. More like the thrill you get when you're riding on a roller coaster, like that one split second in your life when you actually feel that everything is perfect.

_Is it?_

The question is posed to Sasuke - the challenging and mocking part of him choosing the one moment when he needed all of him to agree on one thing the most to ridicule him. _Is it perfect? Is this what you really want? Is this what you really need? Are you just trying to be the person Itachi's looking for?_ Fear dances up and down his spine, hand-in-hand with the blood rushing down to someplace he never felt it rush to before.

No thoughts in his mind are intelligible. Not right now. Not while everything feels so right. Why is confusion brought along with perfection?

Sasuke trembles underneath his brother, both hands seemingly useless as he spends what seems like an eternity compressed into five minutes with Itachi's lips against his, tongues battling for whatever they were looking for (Reassurance? Relief?), and gasping for air whenever they needed to fill their deprived lungs.

"Are you scared?" Itachi's deep voice breaks Sasuke out of his trance, realizing what they are doing and beginning to wonder if he should have any second thoughts before he figures that it's too late to turn back…right? _(Possibly just an excuse…)_

"N-no," Sasuke insists, though never feeling anything like this in the few weeks that he's lived. He isn't sure if what he is feeling is fear or pleasure or a pure mixture of both, warring over which one to take over his body.

"…Good." Sasuke stiffens, and he can't help but feel overly exposed when his brother pulls his jeans down past his ankles and tosses them somewhere where he can't quite identify where it is. Itachi notices the younger boy's anxiety, leans down and kisses him again. He can feel his head filling with nostalgic memories of the past when Sasuke lets out something hovering in the middle of a moan or a whimper. "Don't be," he adds, absolutely loving the blush that adorns Sasuke's pale cheeks.

"..Off," Sasuke mumbles. Itachi blinks questioningly – his younger brother unbuttons his older brother's shirt, not feeling comfortable being the only one with articles of clothing lying on the floor. He attempts to train his eyes on Itachi's face, the one thing about this entire situation that seems familiar. But that option vanishes as the elder of the two buries his face in his neck. Sasuke lets one moan escape from his lips, and then bit them as hard as he could.

His brother's hand fell on Sasuke's lap, sending some sort of rush down all of his veins and into Itachi's hand. Sasuke's eyes trail down when the older brother pulls away and he knows that Itachi feels that same delightful rush by the growing erection in his jeans.

"Itachi…Just get on with it." Apparently, Sasuke isn't a fan of foreplay. The young Uchiha closes his eyes when Itachi scoops him up and into his room, onto the messy bed. He keeps his eyes shut when Itachi pleasures him with a kiss. They still remain closed when he tastes Itachi's fingers on his tongue, and the fingers trace down his spine. But his eyes flash open when Itachi cups his creamy white ass, one of his fingers wandering into his tight walls.

Itachi could hear Sasuke stiffen – it was that subtle squeak of surprise that gave him away. He succeeds in hiding a smirk as his brother shifts uncomfortably under his influence. Sasuke's hands clench when two more fingers were inserted, and at this point, Itachi could feel a small flame of regret burning in his heart. He tries to shrug this off as he pulls his them out, smiling at the whine his brother had made.

Sasuke remembers the dream, and shuts his eyes again. He knows he's lying to himself since the beginning…that he'd never felt this way for his brother…that he'd never let something this pleasurable and illegal happen. His body shudders again when Itachi kisses his shoulder blade, like a whisper of _"Are you ready?"_ Sasuke nods at this unofficial question, hoping that the next minutes were going will be the perfection that they both needed…hoping that the next minutes are truly the key to his memory.

He cries out when he feels Itachi enter him, and at the same time Itachi wraps his hand around Sasuke's cock. Suddenly, everything in the young Uchiha's world seems to be larger-than-life: the way his brother timed every thrust and stroke perfectly, knowing exactly what to do to drown Sasuke in pleasure; the way each drop of sweat rolls down Sasuke's back like a waterfall cascading right behind him; the way both brothers cum at the same time, as if they were planning to.

No words are even spoken when Itachi pulls out of him. Only looks given solemnly at each other, Itachi's eyes stating satisfaction, Sasuke's emotionless (still unsure of what to feel). Though he is sure that maybe their relationship isn't one sided anymore, his heart is consumed in something called mixed emotions.

Nothing. No memories enter his mind, reminding him of the past he had lost.

Everything. All parts of his body are focused on Itachi, knowing that he may just be his everything.

**End Secret**

God, you have no clue how long it took me to write that last part. Yeah, it's my very FIRST lemon! If it sucks, whatever, but the fact that it is my FIRST and I actually went through with it rocks!

Man, I'm floating in ecstasy. Please review!


	7. Deception

Finally, an update

Finally, an update! Sorry for the shortness. I went to creative writing class and I hate to go to parties and stuff…So, yeah. Hope you like these next chapters!!

So the last lemon sucked, but I believe the plot is good enough to cover up my suckish-ness in that area. The rest of the story is now just building up to the ending, basically. I hope you guys enjoyed the story so far and will enjoy the rest of it!

Reason for late update: My dad installed a weird game thing where you can play weird games with computers and stuff. Because of that, I have a recent obsession with trying to beat a cocky T-Rex named Marvin in chess.

Standard disclaimers apply. Blissful Ignorance is dedicated to Light is Gay.

**Chapter Six: Deception **

_Won't look back when I say good-bye. I'm gonna leave this a hole behind me, gonna take what's mine tonight. 'Cause every wasted day is a wasted chance, you're gonna wake up feeling sorry, 'cause life won't wait. I guess it's up to you._

_-Simple Plan. When I'm Gone_

**Deception Part One**

Before the murder of Uchiha Fugaku and Mikoto, when Itachi didn't have anything to do, he'd take out a dictionary and look up random words that either two year olds know or only the finest college professors would have knowledge of. It was just to pass the time, not to get better vocabulary.

But after the murder of Uchiha Fugaku and Mikoto, when Itachi didn't have anything to do, he would avoid the dictionary. Ever since his little discovery of something that couldn't be a coincidence in the book that claims to 'Define Your World', he always looked up words on the Internet rather than the book.

Is it that much of a coincidence that the word guilty and guilt come right after the word guillotine?

**Deception Part Two**

Being stuck in the same apartment is not a breeze for Itachi and Sasuke. Even though Sasuke sort of admitted that the relationship they now hold delicately is not one sided anymore, both still avoid each other. To Sasuke, Itachi might have gotten what he wanted, but he did not – even with his little sacrifice, his memories still did not return.

Sasuke taps his fingers on the windowsill in his room (with the door locked). Sakura should be coming around sooner or later with the work he missed, and he is planning to not be in an awkward situation when she arrives. She's already ecstatic enough that she's chosen to bring the work to their apartment – Sasuke refuses to give her the pleasure of seeing two brothers getting it on.

He jerks up from his trance when someone knocks on the door and when Itachi opens it. "Hi, Itachi! It's been such a long time, right?" Sakura's voice is slightly quivering, and Sasuke can picture his big brother staring her down someone would to dead bird in the middle of the road. Itachi said nothing, so the nervous girl continues on: "I have the work Sasuke missed. Uh…May I come in?"

Itachi's silence breaks when he says one thing. "No, you may not." Sakura blinks as he turns and calls for his younger brother, and Sasuke emerges from his room, a smirk on his face. "Hn." was the last thing the older Uchiha says before leaving the room.

"What's up with him?" Sakura mutters softly, maybe to make sure Sasuke cannot hear him – but he does, anyway. He does not answer as ne takes the heavy books from his classmate's arms, following his brother's example and not saying anything. It's been forever since he's spoken to anybody other than Itachi, but Sakura isn't on his list of 'people to talk to.' Besides, he likes to see the poor girl drown in edginess.

"Oh yeah, I forgot...Um…Sasuke?" the pink haired girl whispers lowly, also glancing up to see if Itachi is in the room. "We've…thought of a good theory about your parent's deaths. It might help you regain your memories, so I thought that I had to tell you." Sasuke shrugs and places the textbooks onto a table, sitting down. Sakura blinks. "May I come in now?"

"Do what you want," is the answer.

Sakura sits down across from the quiet boy, hands clenched uneasily at her sides. "Do you want to hear this or not?" she inquires, careful with her tone of voice. She trains her eyes on the hallway, ready to stop and change the subject if Itachi suddenly appears.

"Do what you want," Sasuke repeats.

"I don't want to tell you anything without your consent," Sakura says, resolute.

"Che. Whatever. I don't want to talk to you," Sasuke stands up and leaves the room almost in the same fashion as Itachi. Sakura wonders if he spent extra time with his older brother recently, or if it is just the way Uchihas grow up. She remains seated, half hoping one of them would sit back down and spark a conversation, or if they would come back in a less sulky mood.

When they didn't, she seizes her bag and tries not to charge out of the apartment. There is already a bitter air in the place, and Sakura has a feeling that her presence isn't helping at all.

**Deception Part Three**

"You're home rather early."

"You woke up rather late."

For reasons unknown, both Uzumakis are cross with each other, and they express that by having a showdown of words and death glares. Minato is standing on one side of the living room, clad in work clothes and bags under his eyes. Naruto stays on the side opposite of his father, with his hair in a wild mess that can pass as a lion's mane and sporting orange and black pajamas.

"What were you doing all night? I called the house."

"Out with friends. But I thought you never come home until at least two days pass. Never thought you'd come home to have a friendly talk with your son."

"Out with friends all night? Was it some sort of a sleepover?"

"Don't play cop with your own son, dad."

"Answer my question."

"I'm not a criminal."

"I know you're not, but I'm your father."

"And fathers come home to eat dinner with their sons every night. Fathers care more about their own sons than other sons. Fathers have more things to talk about other than the cases they work on at work."

"…I'm going back to work."

"I'm going with you."

Minato stops and turns to face his son. "No, you're not. Naruto, I told you already, I don't want to get you involved in my job. For God's sake, you could get killed!" He runs his hand through his rowdy spikes, unintentionally making his hair as chaotic as his own son's.

"I won't get killed. This is about my _friend. _Besides, we found out a lot of information that the police didn't find yet – and we even have a good theory!"

"We? As in who?"

"Sakura and me," Naruto says.

"Naruto, don't get that poor girl caught up in all of this," Minato groans.

"Too late. She wants to get involved."

"Naruto, go back to sleep. I'm going to work."

"How about this? I go to work, you go to sleep. Deal?" Naruto gestures towards the bags under his father's eyes.

"No deal," says Minato as he walks out of the door.

**Deception Part Four**

He curses under his breath, thinking of how everybody has nothing else to do with their lives other than invading their apartment. Itachi opens the door a crack, and then opens it fully when he sees its Kakashi. He unenthusiastically lets the man in, frowning from head to toe. Itachi knows Kakashi as an old family friend, but his relationship with him was and is nothing more than an acquaintance.

"What, not happy to see me?" Kakashi's eyes curve into a lopsided crescent moon. When Itachi does not respond, his laid back smile wanes. "I need to talk to you about your cousin, Shisui. The one that supposedly committed suicide."

Itachi raises his eyebrow. "Supposedly?" Kakashi nods steadily. "Oh, let me guess – you think _I _had something to do with his 'supposed' suicide." He glowers at him and does not take any time to try and conceal the hostility in his voice.

Kakashi is not even taken aback by his surliness. "I understand. You two were very close friends." He looks Itachi square in the eye. "But you seem to have a habit of being suspect to murder, so I simply assumed." The younger man's eyes narrow. "Sorry for bothering you, it's just that I wanted to see if you decided to tell us anything." Kakashi approaches the door.

"Wait, Kakashi."

"Hmm?" the older man pauses without turning around to hide his triumphant smile.

"I had nothing to do with the suicide," Itachi says. "Because the suicide never happened."

**Deception Part Five**

Sakura impatiently taps her pencil up and down against her wooden desk. Her eyes are fixed on the clock, even though she knows that when you look at the machine it moves unbelievably slower. Asuma, their teacher, looks up and frowns at her. Without saying anything, Sakura notices and puts her pencil down sheepishly.

Finally, the bell rings. She releases a held breath and rushes out of the room, looking for Naruto. Spotting the trademark golden mane of hair, Sakura dashes through the crowd and seizes his shoulder. "Naruto, I've got to talk to you," she hisses in a low voice. Before he could answer, Naruto is dragged down the hallway and outside.

"Ow, let go of me, Sakura!" he wrenches out of her grip. "What is it now?"

"Uchiha Shisui! I found this out last night and remembered it just now!" Sakura whispers rather loudly. "They say that he drowned in the Nakano River, but they never found his body. They assume that it was a suicide but…What if it wasn't?"

"Yeah, I get what your point is, but what does this have to do with our case?" Naruto asks.

"It's true that the suicide might _just _be a suicide, but if we leave it alone we might never find anything out." Sakura shrugs. "I mean, we've got a theory. All we have to do is prove it right."

**Deception Part Six**

_What else could I have done? _Itachi muses bitterly. He is standing at the phone, intent on calling an old friend (and not caring of the conversation is monitored or not). Every time he picked up the phone from its cradle, he places it back down again and is enveloped in regret. Was telling Hatake Kakashi the truth the right thing? Would it hurt all of his chances of getting out of this predicament unscathed?

Itachi shuts his eyes, hand on the phone again. _Too late. We're already broken. _

With a deep breath, he dials a number that he still can recall through all this time, and puts the telephone to his ear. Itachi waits a few painful seconds – and then smiles. The voice is still familiar.

"Shisui?" Pause. "I know this is a rare moment, but…I need your help."

**Deception Part Seven**

Hatake Kakashi slams down a recorded conversation on Uzumaki Minato's desk with that elated feeling still bubbling in his chest. "Don't ask," Kakashi says. "Just listen. I finally got something out of that stubborn Uchiha." He sits down proudly in a visitor's seat, pressing the play button.

"_Alright. Uchiha Itachi, you claim that Uchiha Shisui's suicide never happened, am I correct?" _Kakashi's voice. At the sentence, Minato shoots his colleague a shocked look, but keeps listening in. The white haired man grins again.

"_Yes." _The deep voice of Uchiha Itachi.

"_Can you explain what really happened?" _

There is a short silence, and Uzumaki figures that Itachi nodded. _"Yes. Shisui had always wanted to leave Konoha and start over somewhere else, and that's what he did. He left, and used suicide by drowning as a cover. I merely helped him escape." _Another short pause. _"It really has nothing to do with what happened to my parents." _

"_Yes, yes, but can you save us trouble and tell us who did it?" _

"_No, I can't." _

A sigh from Kakashi. _"Well then. Can you tell us what led Shisui to the conclusion that he had to run away?"_

Tense silence. _"No. I can't."_

An exasperated groan. _"Fine, then can you at least tell me where Shisui is right now?"_

"_Sorry, but I promised him not to tell anybody. I already broke one promise by telling you about the suicide."_

The recording turns off – apparently Kakashi could not get anything else out of 'that stubborn Uchiha.' Minato turns and looks at his associate. "Well, at least we might be able to get something out of Uchiha Shisui."

**Deception Part Eight **

Sasuke blinks in puzzlement when his brother does not even look at him the next morning. He notes that Itachi is whispering unintelligible words under his breath. He sees Itachi continuously stealing glances out the window. He feels an aura of distress encompassing his big brother. Itachi was standing by the telephone just yesterday, too – picking up the device and putting it down again. But Sasuke remembers Kakashi coming into their apartment yesterday…also recalling the mistake he made by ignoring the appointment. He did overhear (eavesdrop?) a few things, like _Shisui _and _suicide. _

Something about this does not please Sasuke. Maybe he has gotten too accustomed to the (unwanted?) attention. Maybe the once one-sided relationship truly is not one-sided anymore. Or perhaps Sasuke is just imagining things. The only conclusion he came up with is that maybe it is jealousy.

Sasuke easily welcomes his own misery. Jealous of whom? This _Shisui? _Eventually, he refuses to accept his own envy and pretends that his brother is acting completely normal.

That is, until he hears his brother's murmuring clearly. _"He's coming back." _

**Deception Part Nine – Flashback**

Standing silently at the banks of the Nakano River, Itachi makes believe that nothing is wrong. That the dreams he and Sasuke had shared for the future are becoming more and more distant. That his parents are not arguing about how Fugaku folds the corner of a page to keep his place in his book. That his brother is not pleading to be with him at all times. That the same brother is not staying up all night in his room whenever he declines to spend time with him. That Shisui is not choosing to disappear from Konoha to start over with a new life.

"I should be going now." Shisui's voice sounds like the roar of a hard rock concert compared to the sound of silence. "If I stay too long someone might find out." He puts his hand on Itachi's shoulder, both a good-bye and a promise. Without saying a word, the younger of the two shrugs his hand off of his shoulder – his way of saying good-bye.

Itachi feels Shisui's smile as his footsteps begin to soften. Eventually, he turns, watching his best friend vanish in the horizon. He feels ashamed of himself, because no tears reach his eyes. How could he not be sad? Itachi shakes his head, knowing that he _is _sad. He just does not know how to express it without being weak.

"I knew it." Itachi tenses, knowing that voice a bit too well. "There was that feeling of melancholy around you two. Shisui really is leaving, isn't he?" Sasuke emerges from behind a tree, not looking at his brother but at the same direction Itachi is staring at. He walks over inaudibly, the sound of his feet not even penetrating the silent void.

Together, they watch the horizon – the side of the earth without a sun. Sasuke clutches onto his older brother's arm, assured that nobody is watching. The warmth of his older brother's skin does not placate him as much as it used to, primarily because he believes Itachi has grown a little more hot-blooded over the years. So much, that the warmth is almost unbearable (and maybe too familiar).

"I've…made up my mind." Sasuke's voice, except not what it usually sounds like. Finally, Itachi breaks away from his trance and looks at his brother. Itachi wants to say something, but a force glues his mouth shut. _Is this grief?_

Sasuke does not say another thing. He pulls his arm away from Itachi and looks away. "I've got to go back home." Itachi flinches – he sounds the same as usual. "Mother is waiting for me. You better come, too." He seems to drift off like a pale ghost, not looking back to check if his own lover is following him.

**End Deception**

I'm so sorry this chapter is short! It turns out the ideas I had didn't quite go with the story, so I only was able to squeeze six pages into this. Sorry, sorry, sorry.

Anyway, please review!!


	8. Surrender

Wow, thanks for all the reviews

Wow, thanks for all the reviews! I only have a few more chapters left, unfortunately. At least this fic hit fifty reviews. And many thanks to a fool's paradise for all the support!

Also, Itachi may be a little OOC, but I can't help it…Sorry to any body who's disappointed in me.

Standard Disclaimers Apply. This is dedicated to Light is Gay, who, sadly, fell out of the Naruto fandom.

Hope you enjoy this chapter!

**Chapter Seven: Surrender**

_This is the story of my life, and these are the lies I have created. And I swear to God I'll find myself in the end…_

_-30 Seconds to Mars. The Story_

**Surrender Part One – Flashback**

It takes so long for reality to finally sink in. The only person he is ever truly close to (excluding Sasuke, for he _is_ a special case) has departed, and maybe Itachi will never see him again. This is like death, but, thankfully, only death from Konoha. _This is, _he realizes, _how someone feels when they lose their family members. _

He never expected such an impact, such a dent, to be placed in his chest when Shisui left. People throw around the words _kill_, _disappear, vanish, murder, _and _death _around so effortlessly as if it means nothing. Nobody can truly comprehend that crushing feeling of a part of your life being taken away from you.

Itachi unexpectedly has a feeling of sympathy for those who have lost an important person. It is unlike him – empathy usually is something that does not come to the Uchiha. But along with the sympathy, there is a moment when he wonders if it is okay, just for one second, to be sad.

Glancing down at his baby brother (his dearest lover), ambling rather peacefully back to their house, he thinks, _I guess not._

**Surrender Part Two**

At the window in his room, Sasuke knows that they might have taken several steps back to the beginning. Where everything is ultimately awkward around the Uchiha brothers, where everything is also ultimately confusing for Sasuke himself. A feeling in his stomach is developing, and he is sure that it is not healthy. His conscious is yelling at him for not wanting to take action. Sasuke denies the truth – that he is sincerely afraid.

He shifts uneasily in his seat. How can one be uncomfortable in their own home? Sasuke crosses his arms and watches cars zoom by. Then again, how can you call a place home if you're uncomfortable in it? He scowls upon himself and the pitiful predicament he is in, knowing that these thoughts are not making anything any better.

Sasuke's left hand instinctively touches his temple, massaging it. Since yesterday, headaches have been raging on in his mind, like a vigorous war being fought during a harsh hurricane. He never considers the throbbing as an unconstructive sign, but the same could be said of a beneficial sign. The last thing he needs is to have pains like a girl. But that still does not stop him from hoping that it means his memories may come back.

Shuddering from the frigid air in the room, Sasuke closes his eyes. Are these memories really worth another sacrifice _(but it's not like I wasn't willing to give up last time)_? Will the sacrifice just mean headaches or the insanity he believes he is falling into _(it doesn't matter – everything was insane from the start)_? And judging from everybody's actions, the memories themselves don't seem that great.

"What's wrong?"

Before wondering how in hell Itachi got into his room, Sasuke tries to think of a good reason why Itachi would try to start a conversation. The younger brother does not turn around to face Itachi, attempting to shut him out so that he can think clearly for once. Regrettably, blocking out his brother is like trying to block out the sun (scientifically, time can and will stop the sun) – he makes that much of an impact to Sasuke.

Unblinkingly, Sasuke says, "Nothing." His eyes remain shut, and immediately he thinks: _I don't want to talk to you. _

Bluntly, Itachi replies, "You're angry at me." Sasuke, who is about to retort some smart answer, is cut off before he draws a breath to form words. "For not getting your memories back." He walks up to his brother and freezes for a moment, contemplating whether or not to touch him in any way. In the end, Itachi takes a chance by taking Sasuke's shoulders and wheeling him around to face him. "I'm sorry."

The words echo in Sasuke's head. _I'm sorry, I'm sorry, Forgive me, Forgive me. _They are so familiar, unlike everything else in this hellhole of a world (and he never even said forgive me). He shrugs Itachi's hands off of his shoulders and turns away. "You haven't done anything wrong," Sasuke mutters, to inform and reassure his older brother.

And Itachi responds in a matter-of-factly tone of voice that can completely destroy any romantic scene:

"Neither have you."

**Surrender Part Three – Flashback**

She sincerely has no clue what is going to happen next. The cliché of separating your lives into 'before' and 'after' is suddenly taking place – and at this point, Uchiha Mikoto does not know what to do to fix her (family's) mistakes.

She stays in her youngest son's room, daring to pick up whatever she can and put them back in their proper places just to have something to do (if only she could do this to what's left of her family). Mikoto folds a navy blue shirt that was strewn on the black carpet along with a bunch of other articles of clothing, and places it into a drawer. Once the shirt is tucked away, she rests her head against the cool wall, exhausted.

Before that night when she and Fugaku had skipped a dinner just to find out about their sons' relationship, they were the perfectly normal family with extraordinary members. Fugaku, being the leader of the Konoha police force, Itachi, being the prodigious student in every way possible, and Sasuke, being the glue to keep the family together. Mikoto was proud of all of them and attempted to be a person who they would still remember through the fame that they received from the residents of the city. She was, after all, just the mother.

The night when the parents had started to have suspicions, they heard plenty of noises from Itachi's room – moans, whispers, muffled screams and cries - all of which seemed unpleasant. It made Mikoto feel uncomfortable. It made Fugaku unreservedly speechless. What Fugaku never knew, though, that his wife saw the apprehension in his eyes whenever Itachi and Sasuke would go off to God-knows-where by themselves. Maybe Mikoto was the only one that knew that the relationship the brothers had that was supposed to bring the two of them together was ripping the rest of the family apart.

After they had confirmed their illegitimate bond both of them had, the Uchiha household became such an awkward place. Fugaku always tries to ignore everybody's presence – especially Itachi. He seems convinced that the incest is Sasuke's fault for distracting the ever-perfect older brother. Mikoto feebly defends her son, and through that, their marriage starts to wither before her eyes (and she can't seem to do anything to stop it).

Mikoto's heart twists itself unbearably when she thinks of Itachi. He looks as if he matured once he left her womb, instantaneously becoming a man. She believes that she never truly had the pleasure of watching him grow up. Itachi just grew even more distant after she found out about the incest. Basically cutting himself out of the family, he even tries to avoid his young _(I hate to put it this way) _lover. He frequently slept over Shisui's house (that worried Fugaku even more), until Shisui committed suicide. There was no body, but a funeral was held anyway. Oddly, Itachi and Sasuke did not attend the service.

And Sasuke – oh, _Sasuke_. The one keeping the family together is now falling apart, taking the rest of them with him. But everyone knows it is not his fault, though it might as well be. The innocence he had around him lessened, and his actions almost mimicked his father's. He disregards his father particularly, but still constantly attempts to get his brother's attention. Mikoto, like every other parent, does not want her little boy to grow up. She desperately wants that – to lock Sasuke into a place where time doesn't pass.

She hears Fugaku's footsteps pass by the door and straightens herself out. Her husband stops and stares at her. Mikoto tenses up, wanting to be as strong as Fugaku, to be as clever and wise as Itachi, and to be as sincere and innocent as Sasuke. The male Uchiha's gaze pierces into her like a precisely aimed arrow – she can just feel the words he is about to say ring and echo in her mind.

"No," Mikoto whispers ever so softly. _That's just going to rip us apart even more._

Fugaku does not hear her. "Mikoto, you might have figured this out, but I'm calling for a divorce." He continues walking – out of sight.

She stiffens, the reality sinking in after a long moment of standing in Sasuke's room. There is no doubt in her heart and mind that she loves Fugaku and her sons. Mikoto places her hand where her heart is, even though she knows it is too late to protect it. Her eyes are trained on the doorway, imagining her husband standing there and saying something different, as if dreaming can change what happened five minutes ago.

Mikoto realizes that Sasuke and Itachi should be coming home soon, and she should get out of the younger's room before they arrive. Rushing out of the now spotless room, she goes into the bathroom and breaks alone.

**Surrender Part Four**

Uzumaki Minato had purposely parked his car a few blocks away from his own house, and waited inside. The only way to get some answers that his son was to go by force. Minato did not plan on doing anything illegal…maybe just some bribery. The police are, honestly, getting no where on the case and only picking up the little mess that the Uchihas (deliberately) had left behind. The problem is that Itachi had the rest of the pieces to the puzzles, and obdurately not letting anybody take a look.

Minato regrets the decision he made when he drove back home, but he realizes it is too late once his son, Naruto, enters the house. Naruto pauses when he opens the door. He does not even bother to close it before yelling, "What are you doing here?"

_As unreasonable as ever, _the father thinks with a smile. His son never changes. "It's my house, too, you know. I actually want to talk to you." Naruto stands there, his expression still not shifting. "You know…about the case?" The teenager's face softens, but his body remains tense. _At least, _Minato thinks proudly, _he doesn't let his guard down._

Minato continues on, "I'm actually considering letting you in on the case. You just have to promise not to tell anybody else. Except for Sakura and my colleague, Kakashi, of course." He sits on the dining table, crossing his arms. "But if I let you in on the case, you have to do two things: one, tell me all the information you have, including your theories. And two, if things get dangerous, you will pretend that you never looked into this case in your entire life. Understand?"

Naruto blinks, considering this. "What do you mean 'if things get dangerous'?"

The detective shuts his eyes. "As in dangerous, dangerous. You know what I mean." He heaves a loud sigh and pushes off of the dining table. "I don't want you or Sakura getting hurt. It may seem like nobody's going to get hurt at all in this case on the surface, but we still can't take any chances."

Naruto shifts his bag on his shoulders a little. He stares at his father as if he is a Martian. "Aren't you already taking chances?"

**Surrender Part Five**

How can he possibly focus on homework? Sasuke groans when he tells himself that he has to do the work, but complains endlessly in his head nonetheless. The throbbing sensation in his temples never went away since this afternoon, and he tries not to wonder if his memories will come back or not. Sasuke gapes blankly at the page, knowing what he has to and how to do it, but not having any motivation to put his pen to the paper.

He puts the pile of papers and textbooks and notebooks aside, and convinces himself that he will do it later. Sasuke always thought that he is not the type of person to fall victim to procrastination, though in situations like these he believes that he has a plausible alibi. Family problems. Problems that include incest, murder, deceit, and many misunderstandings. Could the so-called perfect Uchiha family be any more dysfunctional and flawed?

When Sasuke thinks of family problems, his mind races to the only family he knows. His older brother. The last time Itachi had chosen to cross the line was yesterday. Sasuke buries his face in a pillow sitting on the couch to hide his flushing face. Everything about yesterday is too blurry yet too vivid. And no matter how hard Sasuke tries, the sensation keeps returning to his lips.

Sasuke's body just tenses again when he hears someone (Itachi, of course) pick up one of the papers he is supposed to work on. He pushes the pillow away from his face, the embarrassment being overwritten by his frustration. His older brother turns around and gives Sasuke a blank, unblinking stare.

"Put them down," Sasuke growls, pushing off of the sofa and snatching the papers away. "I'll work on them later." He keeps his eyes focused on the table, and not at Itachi's face. "Don't even ask me when later is, either," Sasuke mutters, placing (more of shoving) the sheets into an already full folder and snapping it closed.

Itachi does not say anything. His silence infuriates Sasuke more than his words.

Then again, actions do speak louder than words. Even the unspoken ones.

Itachi seizes his younger brother's lips and immediately pushes Sasuke into a messy and needy kiss – the one that has tongues battling over nothing and saliva dripping down your mouths. Itachi fists his brother's spiky raven hair, pulling him as close as possible. Sasuke's heart pulls itself into a knotty mess, and the pounding in his head only worsens.

"Stop," he mumbles with his hands flat against Itachi's chest. He shoves his brother away, thankful that the headache got almost immediately better once Itachi is a few feet away. "Just stop it," Sasuke says, louder and more forceful this time, also wiping the saliva that is dribbling down his chin. His gaze hovers somewhere between Itachi's shoulder and ear, because he does not want to see whatever kind of expression his brother is showing.

Sasuke presses his fingers against his temples, and he instantaneously found his own pulse, thudding faster than normal. And Itachi stands in front of his brother, his expression an impassive mask to hide whatever emotion he has hidden deep in his heavy heart.

A wall seems to be placed between the two, separating their completely different worlds. And no matter how hard both of them try, they just can't seem to reach the one on the other side. And, at last, Sasuke becomes conscious of the fact that all he needs to do is extend his hand and take his brother's – and maybe everything will make so much more sense if he is not going through all of this alone.

But Sasuke turns away, and he feels the border between them grow. The thought of going through everything alone is too unbearable for him – he has known since the beginning of his short life that being alone is what he fears the most. That fear is especially great, but for the young Uchiha, the fear of betrayal is worse.

His head throbs unbearably and Sasuke tears to his room, shutting the door behind him and locking it. He puts his hands to his ears but cannot block out the whispers from his past.

If there is anything he remembers from his past, it's that Itachi can't keep a promise for his life. _So why?_

"_Promise me you'll always love me."_

It is the last promise he had made with him – at night in Shisui's apartment. And it is the one and only promise that Itachi still manages to keep up to this day.

Sasuke suddenly regrets running away as he pulls his legs to his chest and rests his forehead against his knees. He shuts his eyes, wanting to shut everything out, too, but he knows that would be another form of running away. Instead, Sasuke stands up from his curled position and opens the door, relieved to see his older brother still there.

"I remember," he manages to choke out. Itachi's eyes widen, as an emotion slips past his control for a split second. "I remember that promise," Sasuke finishes. He watches his brother relax, and he spots a smile sneak its way up onto his face.

Sasuke takes a shaky step forward, feeling like he is on an old, rickety bridge. Tentatively, he opens his mouth again and says the words that feel like they've been stuck in his throat for an eternity.

"Why," Sasuke says gradually, testing out the words in his head. "would I not trust you after that promise?"

**Surrender Part Six**

It seems too surreal to him that he's sitting here, right now, headed back to his hometown. Shisui awkwardly plays with a blue and black lanyard key chain that his younger cousin, Sasuke, had made for him quite a long time ago (when Sasuke was young and was still a virgin). He glances out the window, and lets a slightly pained grin creep up to his face.

The train stops at a small town that is only a few five miles away from Konoha. Shisui vaguely recognizes this place – the one thing that really stuck out is the bar where he took Itachi one day when to celebrate Itachi's driver's license. Sure, his best friend was under twenty-one, but Shisui snuck him a drink anyway.

People pass by the Uchiha, leaving the train and entering it. He pulls his bag onto his lap, making room for a silent old couple. Usually Shisui would spark up an entertaining conversation – he isn't the quiet type like Itachi is. But now, his mind is wandering off somewhere else…To the place he had left behind.

"How many more stops until Konoha?" Shisui mumbles to nobody in particular. Or maybe just himself. He shrugs nonchalantly, already knowing that being an Uchiha makes you senile. The idea brings a real smile to his face, as he wonders how stressed out Itachi might be. Abruptly, his thoughts go back to one of the rare days when he paid attention to the news, only because Fugaku and Mikoto apparently died and Sasuke had gotten amnesia.

_Oh yeah, _Shisui thinks bitterly, _Itachi sure is going to be stressed. _

He glances around him, seeing the (ostensibly) sullen and frazzled faces that everybody seems to wear these days, and then sighs, allowing his own fatigued expression to blend in with the rest of society.

Shisui imagines how much Sasuke or Itachi has changed in the past few weeks (it's only weeks, astonishingly) he has been gone. Knowing all the things that have happened so far, it is to be expected that they changed a lot. He wonders if their relationship is ruined, if Itachi opened up or shut himself out, if Sasuke's amnesia influenced anything at all. Shisui frowns. He knows of another curse of the Uchiha – making a mountain out of a mole hill. Looking at a puddle and claiming it's the ocean. Getting one cut and already speaking your last words.

Letting out a loud, exasperated sigh (and making a teenager that is sitting next to him inch away), Shisui closes his eyes. _I'm sure Itachi is doing all right, _Shisui thinks, even though he knows full well from experience that pretending the problem isn't there does not make it go away.

**Surrender Part Seven – Flashback**

It really is not everyday when you find your own mother, collapsed in the bathroom, crying her eyes out in the quietest way possible. She has muffled wails with a towel, not even knowing that she might as well kill herself. Sasuke rushes to Mikoto's side, gently tugging the towel away from her face and cradling her face in his hands. He remains silent, largely because he has no idea what to say. The roles are reversed now – Sasuke isn't the one that needs the comfort.

"Mother, what's wrong?" Sasuke hesitantly asks. He regrets uttering a single thing when he remembers the arguments raging on between his parents. "Did Father do something to you?" He looks at her, but finds no physical damage.

Mikoto tries to stop her tears, and sadly fails. She knew that this day would come soon (when she'd be the one being calmed and her children would be doing the calming) – maybe when she is an old woman and her sons are two full-grown men – but she never expected it to come _now. _The last thing the mother wants is to look weak in front of her children, but little do they know that the children often know more than their parents want them to.

Sasuke leaves her for a split second, and comes back with a new box of tissues. He lets her weep until the tears finally run out, and then gives her a glass of water to calm the hiccups – the result of crying. "It's all…alright now," Sasuke says softly, embracing his mother. He looks down at the shaking form that he is holding, and wonders when Mikoto had gotten so small. Time really doesn't stop to smell the roses.

"No, it's not," Mikoto whispers, hating herself when the back of her eyes begin to itch painfully. She wipes the resurfacing tears, and she keeps blinking to hold them back. After a while, the mother succeeds and giving her fourteen year old son a weak smile, just to show how grateful she is for two reasons – one, Sasuke came to help her, and two, he did not question why everything is not okay.

Both mother and son came to an unspoken understanding that day.

**Surrender Part Eight**

Today, when the two Uzumakis and Hatake Kakashi knock on the door to the Uchihas' apartment, they did not receive a cold greeting. Instead, they heard Sasuke yell, _"Come in!" _and the door was unlocked. The teenage Uchiha gave the two adults a questioning look when Naruto followed his father.

"Oh. Naruto's…helping out with the investigation," Minato explains halfheartedly. When his son coughs he added: "Officially."

Sasuke does not blink. He seems to ignore this tidbit of information, and asks them, "You want my brother, right?" Kakashi opens his mouth to say 'yes', but he had left the room before he could manage to say anything. In a few seconds, both Sasuke and Itachi came back into the room.

The three visitors exchange bewildered glances. They all share the same thoughts: _Is it just me, or did their relationship get a little lighter? _Before, whenever either Kakashi or Minato visited, they would avoid bringing in their brother into the talk. They both seemed uneasy around each other, and their discomfort gave the investigators discomfort. Maybe it is true that anxiety is contagious.

"Well," Naruto says after an unnerving quiet, daring to be the first one to speak when the awkwardness arrived. "Let's get started, then." He gave his father and his collaborator a nod.

Kakashi coughs, and then gets down to business. "I'm glad that you two are getting along a little better. It makes it easier for all of us, right?" His eyes frown, but the movement means the complete opposite of a frown. "Well, Itachi, if you want to get this trouble overwith and let us move on with our lives – and your brother's - I suggest you explain. So far, all that we've gotten out of you are things that may not even have anything to do with the murder of your parents."

"Shisui…" Itachi murmurs. "Really does have nothing to do with the case." Naruto cannot help but let an exasperated groan out _(All we've got so far is nothing?!)_. Everybody ignores the teen blonde's frustration. "He does not know who the murderer is." Even Minato lets out a held breath. "But, he does know of…everything else."

Minato crosses his arms and looks at both brothers sternly. "You both…are incestuous, am I right?" Sasuke, who swore to himself not to react if anybody ever finds out, sucks in a breath – and immediately rues it. Itachi closes his eyes slowly, and reopens them in the same manner. No words are uttered, but everyone knows the answer is a reluctant '_Yes.'_

Naruto realizes that long silences are something that is inevitable in a conversation with an Uchiha. It must be more frequent since there are two right now. He interrupts the sudden hush by exclaiming, "Itachi, do you plan on confessing?"

Since he has been friends with Sasuke since God-knows-when, Itachi is someone that is (or will) become a rather important person in that friendship. During the days when Naruto actually succeeds in coming over Sasuke's house, he notices quite a few things about his older brother. Like how he can strike up a conversation fearlessly, no matter what the topic, and how he keeps his emotions locked away until more imperative moments arrive.

Among the things Naruto had observed _(that's right, I can observe if I want to!)_, it is how unusually his eyes move. To the Uzumaki, they seem to have some sort of special effect that they place in movies to make it seem so dramatic and frightening. The so-called 'special effect' is even more dramatized in the split second after Naruto dared to say something like that.

Unconsciously, the words slip right out of Itachi's mouth – a blunder that is a rarity.

"You think _I _did this?"

A toothy smile stretches across Minato's face, and for once he is glad that his son is the idiot that he is.

**Surrender Part Nine – Flashback**

Just because they were lovers, does not mean that Sasuke does not keep his secrets. In fact, his baby brother keeps plenty of secrets – half of which Itachi can find out in the blink of an eye. He never told Sasuke how readable his expressions and actions are, and that makes everything all the more easier for Itachi.

When he first sees his mother's face at dinner time, he immediately identifies the puffiness in her eyes. Mikoto was crying. Hard. Itachi steals a glance at his little brother. He rapidly hides a puzzled face when Sasuke's expression turns out to be completely blank. It is atypical of Sasuke, particularly during times like these – usually he might be a fountain of emotion.

Still, the poker face makes Sasuke all the more readable.

Fugaku strides into the dining room, late. He gives his 'wife' a stern, fleeting look, and then focuses his attention on his two sons. "Mikoto and I are having a divorce," Fugaku announces like someone would say _'We're having Chinese food tonight.' _

Sasuke blinks, but does not move after that. Mikoto simply turns away from her husband and absentmindedly picks at her food like a disheartened teenage girl. Itachi trains his eyes harshly on his father, not expecting any less from a man like him. Both the youngest son and the mother begin to eat slowly, though anybody can see that they have lost their appetite. But the father and the eldest son just sit there in silence.

"Let me guess," Itachi says, pushing his chair back and standing up. "You want to separate us." His brusque gaze is unfaltering – but his father's is just the same. "You find something you don't like and you want to stop it." Fugaku does not reply. Itachi does not say anything else, though everybody swears they heard him say _"Selfish bastard" _as he leaves the room.

Looking from her 'husband' to the door in which her son exited, Mikoto begins to tremble. She presses her hands onto her lap, now staring at the untouched food on Itachi's plate. Now Fugaku stands up, leaving the dining room in the opposite direction of Itachi, his food left in the same, identical manner.

Sasuke lets out a feeble smile, and his mother stares at him incredulously. "Like father, like son." He looks up at his mother. "But…I know Itachi isn't like this." Mikoto presses her lips together and shakes her head, gathering up the food and scraping them into the garbage can without a thought.

He stands up and begins to help her, but then he feels someone's hand on his shoulder. Itachi's. Sasuke can tell just by the feel and familiar warmth of it. Itachi pulls his brother to his side, and lowly whispers, "I'll help her. You…can go to my room if you want." Sasuke nods, and tentatively leaves the kitchen, looking back at his lover every three steps.

"Mother," Itachi says, shocking the occupied woman. He walks next to her and rolls up his long, black sleeves to aid her in washing the dishes. For a long while, the two of them work noiselessly, save the clinking of dishes and the sound of rushing water.

"What do you want, Itachi?" Mikoto softly says, not taking her eyes off of her cloth and dishes. "It really isn't everyday when you choose to help me around the house."

He smirks nonchalantly, a casual side of him that is truly uncommon of the older Uchiha. "You're making me sound like a bad son." Itachi passes her a dripping serving dish, a custom made one with the Uchiha symbol emblazoned on it. He shrugs. "I may be, but I need to ask you something rather…urgent." Itachi finishes up the last cup (it probably belonged to Fugaku), hands the glass thing to his mother, and wipes his hands on a small towel.

"What is it, then?" Mikoto asks, feeling a little impatient and cross.

Itachi's eyes narrow as he scrutinizes his mother as if she were a stranger. "Are you just going to let Fugaku treat you like this?" Mikoto stiffens at three things – he is usually a respectful person, so never before had anybody hear him call his own father by his first name. Itachi's tone of voice is something that she has never heard from her own son (her own son!). And, of course, the question itself.

"I don't understand."

"Of course you don't," Itachi scoffs. He lets out a sigh after another silence. "Forgive me; that was rude of me." Shaking his head, he looks down at his mother, still somewhat amazed that he had gotten much taller than her. Another hush. Itachi turns to leave the room – and he (purposely) brushes his arm against Mikoto's shoulder, while murmuring, "I'm sorry."

Mikoto turns and watches her son exit the room, wondering what he is apologizing for.

**End Surrender**

Okay, there. Done. Does that satisfy you or not?! (Stressing out…) I did promise jew-crew that I'd update soon, so…yes, here you go. Personally, I enjoyed writing this chapter the most, mainly because…it was easy to write.

Yes, I hope you enjoyed it. I'd like to see what you guys think of the murder now, so please add that to the review! Of course you'll review! Please review! Thank you much for reading this so far!


	9. Arrival

Oh, wow

Oh, wow. Thank you all for the reviews and the opinions. Many of you have it right, yet many of you have it wrong. My goal here is to shock you guys…so, yeah.

Sorry for the long wait, again. I went to this Theater Camp and stuff. So a lot of my time was spent there. What's funny was that I was Glinda in the play Wizard of Oz…And our computer received a virus and we had to clear it out of all data. Luckily I saved this fic onto my USB cord…Well, thanks for keeping interest in this fic.

Standard Disclaimers apply, and this fanfiction is dedicated to Light Is Gay!

**Chapter Eight: Arrival**

_I dreamed I was missing – you were so scared. But no one would listen, because no one else cared._

_-Linkin Park. Leave Out All the Rest_

**Arrival Part One**

"Last stop, Konoha," a voice announces. Shisui jerks up from his daze, and pulls his bag over his shoulder. He dutifully lets the old couple sitting in front of him to exit the train first, and follows them. Once he steps out of the train, he takes in a deep breath, recognizing the unusually clean air for a large, major city, and the numerous trees that scatter themselves between skyscrapers and buildings, like how birds dot the sky.

_Konoha. _

Home sweet home? Not quite.

There's no place like home? Totally right.

**Arrival Part Two**

Hissing through the corner of his mouth, Kakashi demands why Minato is smiling. The Uzumakis continue to grin rather giddily, but he remains a little baffled until he finally registers what is going on (mind moving rather slow today?). Trash talking gave them an opening – Kakashi thinks of how proud Minato has to be of his son right now.

"You just admitted that you _didn't _do it," Minato says, keeping a close eye on Itachi. It may very well be a lie, but, in the same fashion, it may be the truth. Never had the Uchiha seem to be the type to lie – and Itachi is practically the _symbol _of Uchiha. "Are you completely sure?"

For a split second it looked like Itachi's hand might zoom up to cover his mouth, shocked at what he just blurted out moments ago. But he does not, and he somehow manages to keep his composure, though anyone can see that he lost whatever pretense he has been building up. Itachi looks at the investigators almost in a defeated way, as he confesses, "There's no point in trying to hide it now. I did not murder them."

"That's a relief," Sasuke murmurs to himself, but everyone seems to hear him anyway.

Kakashi, disregarding the small comment, took this moment to pounce. "Then it's obvious by now. You were covering up for somebody this entire time, weren't you now?" His gaze whips to Sasuke conspicuously, so that Itachi can see the movement. "Are you covering for your little brother that you love so much?"

Itachi, in a manner that could only be called 'instinct', says, "Sasuke did not do it." Minato glares at his son when he realizes that Naruto had said the same thing at the exact same time. Meanwhile, Itachi fixes his hard gaze on Kakashi particularly – and Kakashi wonders if Itachi is thinking what he thinks he's thinking (how difficult it is, trying to read the oh so famous Uchiha).

Minato takes his son's shoulder and forcefully leads him into a separate room without the hosts' permission. "Naruto, what the hell are you doing? Keep your mind focused on the task – and the task is finding out who the murderer is." He shakes his head and begins to return to the other room. But while he is exiting, he hears Naruto say boldly,

"_Your _task is finding out who the murder is. _My _task is making sure my best friend doesn't get hurt in the process."

Minato swears under his breath and keeps shaking his head. All eyes are on father and son as they reenter the room. The detective mutters a low, _"Sorry about that."_ He blinks as he realizes that the situation they were stuck in is not a very attractive one. Sure, Itachi had admitted to not murdering his own parents, but that doesn't mean that he didn't. And they still had Sasuke on the list. Or they could have just killed each other in some way. Still, the fact that Itachi had confessed made it all the more perplexing – and, despite the fact that being perplexed comes with the job, Minato knows he doesn't need any more of that on this particular case.

"Do you have an alibi? For the both of you?" Minato asks, although he can already predict the answer. Uchiha Itachi is, of course, also known not only for his academic and athletic skills, but also for being both unpredictable and predictable - to be a something like oxymoron (or a hypocrite) on two legs.

Itachi's eyes do not leave Kakashi. "No. I don't." Naruto groans exasperatedly, Sasuke's eyes snap up to his brother's, Kakashi scowls in a know-it-all fashion, and Minato simply resists from rolling his eyes. Itachi smirks. "Did you expect anything more from me?" he asks composedly.

Kakashi shoots his colleague a fleeting look – one that says outright that they will not be able to get any more information out of the prodigious Uchiha Itachi. Minato nods, and tells the two brothers that they will be taking their leave now. The trio of investigators leaves. They replay the recording of Itachi's confession while asking themselves if this case will ever be closed or if they will have to wait until a new episode of _Cold Case. _

**Arrival Part Three**

Sasuke wants to attack Naruto, Minato, and Kakashi by the time they leave. Their little talk had forced the silence back into the apartment – Itachi remains in his room, quiet and almost fuming. Sasuke isn't sure if the door is locked or not. He is not sure if he could even open the door and speak to his brother without getting a mental slap in the face, like he usually does when he talks to his brother.

He dares anyway, hoping that they have gotten closer to each other since certain events. Sasuke instantaneously spots Itachi, who is sitting on the bed, staring at the doorway as if he was waiting for him to come in. He keeps his hand on the doorknob, ready to close the door if he is in a sullen mood today.

"Itachi," he manages to mumble. His brother nods slowly, asking him to continue on. Sasuke lets go of the knob, and stares down at his brother, who seems to refuse to make any eye contact. And just because Itachi had declined in looking him in the eye, it made Sasuke all the more disconcerted and apprehensive. He resists the temptation to sit down and force him to make eye contact.

Instead, Sasuke braces himself for whatever may come. "Itachi," he repeats. "Did I kill them?"

The younger Uchiha receives just the kind of reaction he wanted to get. Itachi's gaze snaps to his brother, and his eyes narrow slightly. But he keeps his mouth shut – not even contemplating his answer.

Sasuke attempts let his hands unclench and relax, although he knows it isn't possible. That kind of silent reply gave Itachi away. Something in Sasuke's chest gave way and plummets down to who knows where. Suddenly, it became hard for him to look at his hands and not see them stained in crimson blood that is so similar to his own. Did he really kill them? Or was Itachi lying to the police?

"Why won't you answer?" he demands in a low whisper. So far, everybody told him that his past self was a gentle person. Is that just a lie, too? Sasuke has the urge to just turn around and lock himself in his room and force himself to remember…if only it were that simple. Even if this Sasuke is technically just a few weeks old, he already knows that it there never is an easy way out.

Itachi lets out a breath that he seemed to be holding for quite a while. He stands up and puts his hands on Sasuke's shoulders, trying to reassure him. He rests his forehead against his brother's, and tells him, "If only it were that simple." Itachi presses his lips against Sasuke's, as if it would compensate his silence.

Sasuke pushes away from his brother as he makes one thing clear to him. "It is that simple," he declares as steadily as he can. "You're just making it more difficult than it has to be." Intending to leave the room to force his brother to ponder over the past events, Sasuke begins to turn around so that he can walk out of the door.

But in the middle of his pivot, Itachi stops him, with his hand fisting Sasuke's shirt like a child desperately trying to grab the attention of an adult. "I may be," he says softly. A tiny, almost invisible curve is pulling at the ends of Itachi's mouth – and Sasuke knew it is a smile that he just cannot force out. Abruptly, Itachi lets go. And while his hand relaxes and returns to his side, he adds:

"But it's for your own good."

**Arrival Part Four**

He feels like a fool - looking at a map and scratching his head in the middle of a sidewalk. Uchiha Shisui has only been away for about a month, and the streets of Konoha have already become so unfamiliar and unwelcoming. Raking his hand through coarse, black hair, Shisui looks at a tiny scrap of paper with the address of the apartment his cousins are staying at. He steals a glance at the map he is holding in his other hand, and begins to wonder if he should just call Itachi to pick him up somewhere.

Shisui shrugs, disregarding that thought. If anything, he wants to make is re-entrance into Itachi's life somewhat of a surprise. And in order to do that, he has to find the damned apartment. He glances around, attempting to pick out any familiar faces – because he is (was) an Uchiha, he is pretty well known. But he doesn't find anybody recognizable.

He scowls at the sorry state he is on. Really, Shisui did find many familiar people. Unfortunately, none of the said familiar people recognized him. And, though Shisui is generally able to march up to somebody and whip up a conversation like they were just speaking to each other, he has difficulty with this _(Sasuke must feel much, much worse than this)._

Arbitrary people are typically accepted in a teenager's or child's life. Not in an adult's.

Shisui wants to laugh at himself, right in the middle of the street packed with bustling folks. _Adult?_ He never felt like a grown-up before, even though he's twenty-one going twenty-two. This gives Shisui a plausible reason to wonder about how different things have become in just a few months.

But instead of thinking about it, Shisui crumples up the map he had just bought a few minutes ago into the garbage can.

Konoha is his hometown. And Konoha hasn't changed at all. Shisui finds that it is he who had changed – but what he does not know is if he has changed for the better or for the worse.

**Arrival Part Five**

In the back of the car, Naruto is slumping as low as possible with his feet propped up at the back of the passenger's seat, occasionally kicking his father's head (accidentally and purposely at the same time). Without a seatbelt, his blue eyes are focused out the window, watching the city called Konoha slide lazily by while Kakashi attempts to maneuver the car through the constant, heavy traffic. Naruto groans when they are forced to stop at a red light _again. _"Why couldn't we take your car, Dad?" he complains. "I mean, we could have used the sirens to get through this damned traffic." When he receives no reply, he mumbles under his breath, "Stupid rush hour."

"Don't whine," Minato reprimands his son for the millionth time in one car ride. Then, the Uzumaki glances at the driver, Kakashi. "But when exactly will we be able to get home?"

Kakashi does not take his eyes off of the traffic light. "You hypocrite," he mutters so softly that Minato does not hear.

Naruto grumbles again, this time reaching into his pocket and opening a Twix bar, gobbling it up as if he hasn't eaten in days, and litters Kakashi's car with the wrapper. He understands that the two adults are in a surly mood for a very good reason – and that he is in the same mood for the same reason. He shakes his head; because his mind is on the same thing it was about thirty minutes ago. Did Sasuke kill them? Naruto cannot bring himself to imagine his best friend as a murderer. Not even if he had a reasonable explanation for it.

The red light suddenly turns green, and Kakashi is about to drive forward until a truck zooms by last minute. The car moves forward for a moment and the white haired man brakes just in time – but that does not stop the car from lurching forward and throwing Naruto, who is without a seatbelt, is sent forward and face first into the back of the passenger's seat.

"Are you okay, Naruto?" Minato asks, both worried and amused.

"Goddamn fucking assholes of truck drivers," Naruto gripes while rubbing his nose. Only five minutes later, they stop at another red light, and the impatient teenager lets out an even louder moan. "You know what? I'll just…" Naruto opens the door and hops out. "Go home." He begins to run – but both of the adults don't even try to point out to the stubborn blonde that he is running towards the wrong direction…to where the Uchiha apartment is.

**Arrival Part Six**

Shisui stares at the doorbell. He raises his finger to press the button, but then puts the finger down. He is not usually indecisive, yet something about today and his old hometown made him think twice yet again. "I'm acting like Itachi," he jokes to nobody in particular. Shutting out all thoughts he presses his finger against the button. First he hopes that he pressed the correct button. Then Shisui prays that when one of the brothers answers the door, they'd tell him that it's all right. After that, he suddenly wishes that he never came back to Konoha in the first place.

The door opens, and Shisui blinks, expecting Itachi. Instead he gets the younger brother, Sasuke, rubbing tired eyes but still looking up at him with utter puzzlement. Shisui smiles and thinks, _Sasuke got a little taller. _But before he can get around to introducing himself, the boy says, "Do I know you?" The older cousin sheepishly grins again, suddenly remembering that little Sasuke has amnesia.

"Yeah. You do," Shisui says, forgetting to carefully choose his words. He realizes his mistake when it's too late, and he fumbles out another sentence. "At least, you _used _to." He sees Sasuke's eyes narrow dangerously, and Shisui searches for something else to say that won't make him look like a complete fool. "Sorry." _(Excellent job.)_

Sasuke opens the door a slightly wider. "I get that all the time," he mumbles. Shisui figures that he probably meant that in a more positive light – but his negative tone of voice changed the one sentence entirely. He could not grasp the idea that his cousin had sort of…changed so much in a few weeks. "Well?" Sasuke says. "Aren't you coming in...?" Shisui nods quickly and follows the younger boy up a staircase. Sasuke abruptly asks, "What's your name?"

"Uchiha Shisui. I'm your cousin."

"Oh." Sasuke stops in front of the door, and Shisui awkwardly glances around the hallway. _What an unenthusiastic reply,_ he thought.

When his gaze returns to Sasuke, he notices that the door is now opened, and that his cousin had disappeared somewhere in the apartment room. Wondering if it's okay to be entering the room, Shisui slowly walks in. Once he is fully inside the room, the door shuts behind him like it would in a haunted house. He almost jumps, but refuses to do so. Someone taps his shoulder; Shisui turns around and sees Sasuke, who explains dully, "I was holding the door open for you. It never stays open."

Shisui grins again, seeing a spark of the old, bright Sasuke in this new one. "Is Itachi here?" he asks, taking a look around the grayish apartment. "He…asked me to come home."

"He's out," he responds curtly.

"O…k," Shisui says, wanting to laugh at the two of them for creating such an awkward atmosphere. Usually, he and Sasuke got along so well together – maybe even better than how Shisui got along with Itachi (but never better than how Itachi got along with Sasuke). A short silence follows, and Shisui decides to get his act together before he asks, "Is everything alright? Between you and Itachi?"

The younger boy remains quiet for a while. When he starts to talk, it's in a voice that Shisui can easily recognize – the voice that is the pure and gentle Sasuke that everybody seemed to know in the past. "Itachi and I," Sasuke says softly, "we didn't get along at first. And the police and my friends all believed that he was the one that killed my parents. It was only on the first day that I got out of the hospital, and I already knew that Itachi cared for me a lot more than a brother." He stares at Shisui straight in the eye, with some sort of silent trust. "I don't know what to make of that."

Without missing a beat, Shisui replies with a small smile that reminds Sasuke of his older brother. "You don't have to know."

**Arrival Part Seven – Flashback**

Everyone in the Uchiha house hold knew that it was all over once Fugaku returned home one day with a petition. Fugaku wants full custody of Itachi and he does not want anything to do with his other son, Sasuke. To Mikoto everything does not make sense anymore – why blame only one son? Why blame the sons at all? She _was _planning to go and talk to her own lawyer about taking full custody over both of her sons. Especially after what has happened, Fugaku became a different person – a cliché that they once promised would never happen when they were both still young.

Even so, Mikoto thoroughly believes that it is a one-sided divorce. If anything, she wants this marriage – this _family _– to continue. But she shakes her head and wipes her eyes with the back of her hand, vowing to be strong for herself…and for her two sons. She resolutely picks up the laundry basket and heads over to a different room.

Once she turns the corner, she bumps right into one of her sons, the basket falling from her hands and a few articles of apparel making their own way to the ground. When she looks up she sees her eldest, Itachi, kneeling down and picking up the clothes and placing them back into the basket for her. He doesn't say a word, and for that, Mikoto is greatly thankful. When Itachi stands up straight again, Mikoto still cannot believe how tall he has gotten – much taller than her. She cannot help but be a terrified of whatever her son grew up to be…because for some reason she does not know herself.

"I know what you're thinking," Itachi quietly says while stepping carefully around his mother. "You're as easy to read as Sasuke." He strides down the hallway, not even looking over his shoulder.

Mikoto watches him walk away, but before he vanishes into a different room, she says, "I may not know what you're thinking, Itachi…" she takes a deep breath. "But you and Sasuke are still my sons." Itachi stops walking, though he does not turn around. She keeps talking. "I don't care if you have feelings for each other. And, honestly, I don't think it's disgusting at all." Mikoto allows a feeble smile to stretch across her face. "As long as it makes you two happy," she shuts her eyes, sealing her promise. "I'll do anything."

Itachi turns to face his mother, his expression impassive. "Thank you, but if you really want to help," he responds, "don't do anything." And, finally, he opens the door to his room and disappears within it. Mikoto stares down the empty hallway, and begins to wonder if she's going crazy. She shakes her head and continues down the hall to do the work that she had to do in the first place, knowing that she's been insane over her sons from the start.

While she is piling the dirty and used clothes into separate piles – white, colored, etc. – someone taps her shoulder and makes her jump. Mikoto turns and is thankful that the person is Sasuke, and not Fugaku or Itachi (for reasons unknown). "My God, Sasuke, you scared me," she says, almost breathless.

Sasuke sends her a weak smile; one that is strangely familiar and makes Mikoto feel slightly dizzy. "May I help?" he asks. He doesn't wait for an answer. Instead, he kneels down and picks up the clothing that is left in the hamper and sorts them out for her. Mikoto simply nods; gratified that there she has a son that can actually stand to do housework. They work in silence for a moment, and the mother suddenly remembers that night when Itachi had helped her wash the dishes. Mikoto shakes her head…for some reason, the image that is her son makes her feel even more faint than when she thinks of the divorce.

"Did…Itachi say something to you?" Sasuke asks gently, though he does not take his eyes off of his work. Mikoto vigorously shakes her head, afraid that if she speaks, she'll say something truly horrid. Her son puts a big sock into the white pile and gives her a sincere smile. "Itachi always told me that I was a bad liar and that he could read me like an open book." He pulls out a shirt that is obviously Itachi's, and holds it in his hands for a second. "I guess I get it from your side of the family."

Mikoto blinks, not sure of she should be offended or not. "It's not your brother's fault. You know how he is," she says, choosing her words cautiously.

Sasuke is still holding Itachi's black shirt. "Oh. I do?" he grins again, though his eyes are trained on the shirt. "Truthfully, I don't think I know him at all." Mikoto stares at her son curiously, wondering how the Itachi and Sasuke could be so close and still think that they know nothing of each other. Eventually, the teenager places the shirt onto its rightful place. Then he stands up and asks if he can go now.

_How sudden, _Mikoto thinks. But she gives her son a tiny, unsure nod. When her son leaves the room, Mikoto abruptly feels a pang of isolation. Something does not feel right. And it's not just the divorce and illegitimate relationship – it's something about today's karma. She shakes her head, and laughs at herself mentally. Maybe she truly is going crazy.

**Arrival Part Eight**

_How the hell did it come to this? _Naruto asks himself as he stands in front of the door, right next to Uchiha Itachi. Both are sending daggers to each other with their eyes – angry for reasons of their own. "Why don't you just walk right in? I won't do anything," Naruto says, keeping his blue eyes focused on his best friend's brother _(I would say lover, but I always choke on that word)._

"Well, weren't you going to ring the doorbell?" Itachi asks a little disdainfully. "What's stopping you?"

_You. _Naruto thinks indignantly. "Fine," he mutters, his finger grazing the button but not exactly pushing it down. Itachi's eyes narrow when Naruto's hand rests at his side again. Before the older man could ask what is wrong, he says, "If you don't want to tell Sasuke the truth, then tell me." He turns and stares Itachi in the eye. "I just need to know if Sasuke killed them or not."

Itachi keeps his pokerfaced expression. "When I tell you, will you tell my baby brother?"

Naruto blinks, hearing the word 'when' in place of the 'if'that he expected. He considers this for just a split second, wondering if he will tell Sasuke or not. It was his previous intention – to beat it out of Itachi and then tell Sasuke (or something like that). Naruto stares at the serious brother, and he can somehow sense some sort of desperate aura around him. It is small, but for some reason the blonde somehow can…'read the unreadable' (even if his reading level is an average fifth grader's).

"No," Naruto says, hoping he can keep a secret as heavy as this one. "I won't tell Sasuke."

**Arrival Part Nine**

Minato and Kakashi wait out on the Uzumaki's porch, both absentmindedly picking on their MacDonald's lunch that they bought about an hour ago. The miserable air that surrounded this particular investigation still has not risen – and that made the two adults all the gloomier. And the fact that Naruto had run back to the Uchiha's place (and that neither of the two adults tried to stop them) made them their minds race with what the idiot blonde will decide to do.

"Why didn't we stop him again?" Kakashi asks for what seems like the millionth time as he watches his colleague wrap up a half-eaten burger and toss it into the garbage can (he misses, and does not bother to pick it up).

Minato rakes his hand through his blonde, spiky hair, beginning to wonder himself. His eyes were squinting up at the cloudy sky, and he slowly says, "Why _didn't _we go after him?" He remains silent for a while, and Kakashi watches him incredulously, muttering things that sound like _'I said _stop _not _go after_...'_

The detective stands up unexpectedly, snatching up the bag with all of his recording devices that he never unpacked when they got home. Minato repeats under his breath, "Why didn't we go after him?" He jumps over the fence of the porch and runs to the driveway, starting up the car. "Well?" he yells to Kakashi. "What are you waiting for?"

**Arrival Part Ten**

When the door to the apartment unpredictably opens, Shisui jumps out of his seat. There is his cousin, Itachi, not looking any different except that there are more bags under his eyes. He resists the temptation to skip over and give his little cousin a big bear hug like he used to. It is probably just something about Itachi that changed, just like everything else did. Shisui curses his bad timing.

Right behind Uchiha Itachi is another recognizable face – Uzumaki Naruto. He's Sasuke's best friend, who usually comes over every Friday to play random video games and to watch unrated movies about any random thing that they can rent on Blockbuster. Shisui talked to him a few times, but other than that, they are just acquaintances who happen to have the same friends. Something about him is different, too. He looks like he grew up and matured…a little.

"Shisui," Itachi says softly, almost breathlessly. "You have…horrible timing, as usual."

"Damn, Itachi, you haven't changed a bit," Shisui says, smiling while wishing he can still make his favorite cousin smile. He manages to give him a little slap on the back. "I really missed you both," he adds. And, in a more cheerless tone, "Sasuke told me what's going on. But neither of you told me why, exactly, you called me to come back home."

The older brother sighs and tells Shisui the plain truth: "The police wanted to talk to you. And instead of letting them go to where ever you are, I wanted to talk to you first. And the only way to find you is to have you come here yourself." Itachi lets the door swing shut and he walks next to Sasuke, but he did not make any contact with him. "Sorry for the trouble."

"No problem," Shisui slowly replies. "And...I have a good idea who the murderer is." The eldest Uchiha keeps his eyes on his cousin, Itachi, and does not even make any eye contact with Sasuke. To the two adolescents, this is a good sign. To the young adults, this is an unspoken understanding. "What is it that you want to talk about, anyway?"

The doorbell rings, and Sasuke, without a word, runs downstairs to answer it. Shisui and Itachi begin to speak in low voices, and Naruto sits nonchalantly on the couch, though he is straining his ears to figure out what the two cousins are saying to each other. In a few minutes, Sasuke reappears at the doorway with a pretty displeased look, and Minato and Kakashi stand behind him, both grinning sheepishly.

"Dad?" Naruto hisses nervously, standing up from the couch. "What are you doing here?"

Minato ignores his son, and turns to one of the two older Uchiha. "Uchiha Shisui," he says. "We're going to have to question you."

**Arrival Part Eleven**

Next thing Shisui knows, he's sitting down in his cousins' kitchen, with a detective sitting across from him and a recording device placed in the middle of the table. He cannot help but wonder how he got himself into this – and then remembers that he was basically _born _into this, thanks to his Uchiha blood. Forgetting to keep his thoughts to himself, he says, "You know, Uchiha are known to have horrible luck."

Minato frowns, and overlooks that last statement. "I'll make this sweet and to the point. Did you kill Uchiha Fugaku and Uchiha Mikoto?"

"No. I ran away from the village, remember?"

"Do you know who killed Uchiha Fugaku and Mikoto?"

"I…have an idea." Shisui chooses his words like a picky child. "Do you require me to tell you?"

Minato nods, saying, "Yes."

"I have no real proof, but I believe…" he glances at the shut door where Naruto, Itachi, and Sasuke are sitting at right now. "That in that family of four, three of them, Itachi, Sasuke, and especially Mikoto, were just bombs waiting to happen." He spreads his hands flat against the table and stands himself up. "That's all I can say."

**Arrival Part Twelve**

Sasuke fiddles with his fingers absentmindedly, his mind focused on what happened when he took a short nap before Shisui rang the doorbell. It was probably one of the worst mistakes he made in his life – deciding to go to sleep. He had a horrifying dream…with things that stuck into his mind. There was blood everywhere, and his parents' bodies were lying on the ground – covered in that same blood. Itachi was no where to be seen, but he could hear the familiar voice that is his brother's, talking in a rushed, urgent tone to somebody else, but who, Sasuke did not know.

Out of the corner of his eye, he sees a knife on the ground, with its handle covered by a cloth – a handkerchief with the Uchiha family symbol that someone always carries for no particular reason.

As Sasuke remembers this, he eyes his older brother, staring at nothing in particular. And he sees it. A folded cloth hanging precariously out of his brother's pocket…with dry blood staining the crest of their family's pride.

**End Arrival**

Thank you for reading this so far, guys…I still wonder who everybody thinks the murderer is – not everybody told me their opinion! Well, please review! If you're going to scroll that thing over to favorite/alert, at least review! Thanks much!


	10. Recollection

Thanks all for the helpful and supportive reviews (As a writer, it looks like I say 'Thank You' a bit too much

Thanks all for the helpful and supportive reviews (As a writer, it looks like I say 'Thank You' a bit too much. I'll keep saying it, anyway)! It looks like I have dutifully and successfully confused everybody! Yes!

Also, check out my profile. I have a poll there that is pretty important to my self-esteem.

Standard disclaimers apply. And this fanfiction is dedicated to Light is Gay.

Well, here's my next chapter. I believe it is my _last chapter._ After that, there's an epilogue.That's right, it's almost over. I hope you enjoy the last few ones while this story still lasts!

**Chapter Nine: Recollection**

_Let me up, let me out, I am suffocating. I can't live without this all behind me. Is this almost over now? Well, I'm inside my darkest hour, where you will find me, paralyzed and dying from the truth._

_- Scary Kids Scaring Kids. My Darkest Hour._

**Recollection Part One – Flashback**

Nowadays, a moment when Itachi can freely speak to his father without having to worry about his mother or his brother hearing what he is saying is very rare. Mikoto and Sasuke are both out – Sasuke with friends, Mikoto out grocery shopping. Fugaku has a day off today, and he is doing what he usually does when he has a day off: meandering about, or sitting down and watching any random TV show that is on. And Itachi, well…what he does is typically nothing except, like his father, meandering about, reading, or working on college things.

But right now, Itachi plans to do something else with his spare time. He enters the living room where Fugaku is sitting, blankly staring at the television screen that is portraying a woman talking Shisui's 'suicide.' Resisting the temptation to sit down and fully focus on what they're saying about his cousin, Itachi walks over and pushes the 'off' button, killing two birds with one stone. His eyes train themselves on his father, who is now staring impassively at him.

"Itachi," Fugaku grumbles. "What do you want now?"

Itachi's eyes narrow. "You make me sound like a spoiled brat." When his father stands up, even Itachi is slightly surprised at himself. The only way Fugaku can be the same height as his eldest son now is if he can manage to stand on the tips of his toes like an expert ballerina. Either that, or Fugaku truly is shrinking along with old age. Itachi continues on, somewhat glad that he can look down upon his father. "You know what I want to talk about."

"Actually, I don't," Fugaku says, spreading his palms up to face the spinning ceiling fan. "Care to enlighten me?"

"Stop trying to act innocent," Itachi harshly retorts. After that, he takes a deep breath, attempting to regain his composure. "But if you're really that brainless" -Fugaku's eyes narrow in the same fashion as his son's did – "I guess I really have to tell you what's going on myself." Itachi steps closer to his father, forcing him to look up in order for him to have eye contact. "You're trying to rip the family apart for a mistake that _I_ made."

Fugaku smirks, unfazed. "Itachi, I have no idea what you're talking about. I want to do this. And as far as I know, you haven't done anything wrong…you simply have an awful choice in lovers."

That is when Itachi snaps. Losing all the self control he has for just a split second, Itachi raises his clenched fist and punches his father in the face. Fugaku is shaken, but straightens himself up after a few short minutes, spitting the blood from his lips and wondering if his teeth are still safely intact. The son gradually remembers to keep his cool, although he finally realizes that he just cannot – not around the bastard that is his father. "You'll regret that," Fugaku hisses dangerously.

Itachi actually smiles then. "No, I won't." He leaves the room, contentedly replaying the moment when he acted freely from his father's will. He does not realize that he might really regret it.

Meanwhile, Fugaku kneels down and picks something up. A handkerchief, one with the Uchiha crest. His old one that he gave to Itachi years ago, probably when Itachi graduated from middle school to high school. Did Itachi drop it on purpose, or did he just drop it? Fugaku lets out a held breath and shakes his head, taking the cloth and placing it on the kitchen counter – unsure of whether to give it back to his disloyal son or not.

**Recollection Part Two**

Minato is beginning to hate the Uchiha. He knows, without all of the extra baggage, that the Uchiha are typically good people. But the 'baggage' makes the particular person the way they are, so it is hard to imagine an Uchiha without the baggage that Minato hates so much. He glares at Shisui, and he immediately recalls what he hoped before he met this Uchiha. _That he is not like the others he knows. _Well, first impression – he wasn't. When you look deeper – he's the same. Minato begins to think that they are all brought up in the same manner…and knowing the eccentric Uchihas, they probably have odd family rituals and all _(I mean, the family has their own symbol, for Christ's sake!)._

"Yes. Bombs waiting to happen," Minato says, coughing a little. What's with the Uchiha and metaphors again? Oh yes, they're the beautiful, poetic type. Back when the blonde detective was a teenager, he heard Kushina say that with a dreamy voice. And she was talking about Uchiha Fugaku. Ha! Look how he turned out to be. A real bossy figure who does not take no for an answer. Minato doesn't find anything particularly poetic and beautiful about that. But it would make more sense if his wife was talking about the next generation. Itachi, Sasuke, Shisui, and even Mikoto (just about any Uchiha except for Fugaku) all seemed beautiful and poetic.

Shisui nods in all seriousness, and Kakashi reminds the young adult to speak aloud. Minato smiles, thinking of how any Uchiha would react with what's going through his mind right now. He had always figured that he'd be just like his son if he hadn't learned to keep certain thoughts to himself. He figures it is some sort of Uzumaki gene – thinking of random things during grave times. Minato stares at the door, as if he can see Naruto through it. Or maybe, they just subconsciously do that to make things appear less severe than it seems.

Yes, that would make much more sense.

"Minato, are you even listening?" Kakashi whispers while tapping his collaborator's shoulder.

He nods a little too enthusiastically. "Yes, I'm listening, I'm listening." He glances again to Shisui. "Why, exactly, did you run away from Konoha?"

"Why, exactly, do you need to know?" the other man replies briskly. When Minato makes an exasperated look, Shisui sighs and answers, "Because I got tired of this place. I got tired of the Uchiha, with its pride and extra baggage. I mean, when you talk to someone in Konoha, they'll talk to you normally, right? Once you mention you're an Uchiha, suddenly you're all so special or you're just straight-out intimidating." He looks his questioner in the eye. "You're a detective, right? You should know how that feels."

Minato hesitates, and allows a small smile to inch its way up to his face. "Yes, I understand." The question was never really necessary, he remembers. Maybe he just asked for the heck of it…or to just remember that even the corrupted Uchiha are human.

**Recollection Part Three**

Sasuke wants to swear whatever few curse words he has learned so far when he hears the doorbell ring again. He glares at his older brother, telling him to go answer the door instead of him again. Itachi rolls his eyes, understanding exactly what his brother wants and leaves the room, heading down the stairs and thinking of how he'll seriously murder _(wrong choice of words?) _whoever dares to ring the doorbell. When Itachi opens the door, his eyes meet with a certain pink haired girl.

"Sakura," Itachi says puzzled inside but refusing to show it. "Why are you here?"

Sakura blushes deeply and stumbles over a few of her words. "Itachi, long time no see..." She smiles sheepishly, and then quickly adds when the Uchiha's eyes narrow precariously: "Uh, Naruto called?" Itachi's expression does not change. "I helped him out with the investigation a little. So…can I please come in?"

Itachi opens the door wider rather reluctantly. "Come on," he mutters, beckoning her up the stairs and opening the door to their apartment room for her like the gentleman he was taught to be.

"Oh. Hi, Sakura," Naruto says along with a big, toothy grin on his face. Sasuke turns and sees the girl, and the same stupefaction that almost passed across his brother's face plays against his pale features. The raven haired Uchiha mouths to his friend, _what is she doing here? _"She helped out with the investigation, and she deserves to know the truth, too. My dad let her and all, so is it okay for her to be here?" No reply from either of the two brothers. "Please?" Naruto pleads.

Sasuke shrugs, a somewhat positive answer.

The girl glances at the looks on both Uchiha brothers' faces, and then looks back at Naruto. "Care to fill me in?" Sakura whispers, to the blonde, feeling awkward if she said those five words any louder. Naruto explains everything hastily, and his gaze remains focused on his best friend, Sasuke, the entire time. After the rapid enlightenment, Sakura mumbles, "Oh," under her breath.

"What's that for?" Naruto asks, pointing to the binder filled with papers that the pink haired girl had kept stealing looks at every once and a while, as if she is scared to lose it.

Sakura conscientiously answers, "Oh, this is the papers that I've recently looked over. I've got lots of other small details – they may not be enough but they're good enough to give us a boost forward through this case." She anxiously stares at the door leading to the kitchen, where Shisui and the other detectives are. "I'm just surprised that the police haven't looked at any of these papers recently." She holds the binder a little tighter in her hands. "It's sort of suspicious."

The creak of the kitchen door causes Sakura to jump a little. She blushes when Itachi gives her an over-the-shoulder glance when she makes that sudden jolt. "We're done with the interrogating," Minato announces, with a slightly tired look on his face. Shisui smiles awkwardly, his gaze switching from Itachi, to Sasuke, back to Itachi, to Naruto, to Sasuke, to Sakura, all in a split second. "I'm sorry for intruding so much," the Uzumaki says to Uchiha Itachi. Kakashi and Minato are about to leave until Sakura says,

"I've got something to show you." She gestures the two investigators to follow her back in the kitchen, and this time, Naruto curiously walks in after the three of them enter, shutting the door behind him (leaving all the Uchihas in the living room). Sakura sets the binder down on the table in a business-like manner, opens it and extracts many papers. The teenager sets the papers neatly in front of them. The two adults give her incredulous looks, and Naruto smiles, knowing that the girl never fails to surprise people.

Getting down to business, Sakura points to a report about the assassination, and the divorce petition papers. "The same day Uchiha Fugaku received papers to finalize the divorce is the day when Uchiha Mikoto and Fugaku were murdered." Her gaze hardens on the two detectives. "Personally, I think that whoever murdered them did not want them to divorce." She sets the papers down. "Did you guys even know that they were planning to get a divorce?"

Minato and Kakashi exchange grave glances. "Naruto told me," Minato says. "What about it?"

"We have a theory," Sakura begins. "Unfortunately, we can't move forward in this case if we completely forget about the fact that Sasuke and Itachi are both illegally incestuous. Mikoto and Fugaku's relationship might have been going through hard times. And let's say they found out about their sons' relationship. And they don't like it." She pauses, really, for effect. "We all know that their family has been divided by an invisible line at times. Fugaku preferred Itachi – Mikoto seemed to prefer Sasuke. Let's just say they were both going to be separated if the divorce came through. One of them didn't like that, and one day, when Fugaku brought back the petition, he snapped." She pauses again. "It's only a theory, though."

Minato chews on the end of his pens, his mind racing. It is a pretty solid theory, but there are still holes in it. In order to present it in the legal system, they need hardcore evidence. And hardcore evidence is exactly what this case is lacking. They've got the word of one Uchiha who was away during most of the action, and they're missing the word of a stubborn Uchiha. And a key witness has amnesia. Minato groans, wondering how much harder this case can get.

Kakashi smiles softly, always the optimist. "You would make a good lawyer," he says to Sakura.

The girl flushes intensely. "Thanks, Detective Kakashi," she says slowly. "But it's not a good enough theory, and I know it's basically imperfect and inefficient." She glances back at the room, where three Uchiha are sitting right now, waiting for any outcome of some sort that may or may not shove their disjointed lives back into they way it's supposed to be. "If we can actually get Uchiha Itachi to talk, then we can confirm a lot."

"Can we?" Minato asks with his gaze focused on his colleague, who nods. Naruto jumps out of his seat and exits the room later coming back in a few seconds with a pokerfaced Uchiha. Everyone can tell, though, that under that impassive pretense there is a truly aggravated person. Itachi sits down in Naruto's old seat, and the blonde merely stands up and watches the interrogation from the doorway like a bodyguard.

Itachi glares up at Minato. "Why did you drag me back here again?" He suspiciously eyes the recording device that Kakashi is placing on the table. Sakura asks the Uzumaki if she can join in the questioning, and he agrees. This just makes the Uchiha even more doubtful. "I doubt I'll trust you enough to tell you anything." And for a split second, Naruto sees him glance at him – the blonde tenses up ever so slightly, but nobody really notices.

Minato opens his mouth to say something, but Sakura interrupts rapidly, "The more you tell us, the sooner this case will be over – and the less Sasuke will have to suffer."

"You really _would _make a good lawyer," Kakashi remarks in a low voice.

Itachi closes his eyes, and then he nods. "Fine," he mutters gradually. "But there's a limit to how much I'll tell you."

**Recollection Part Four – Flashback**

Normally, Itachi turns the radio off when he is driving home without any friends in the car with him. Instead, he turns on any random radio station and blasts it. His eyes are trained on the road, but his mind is wandering in God-knows-where. He sighs and lowers the volume when he is halfway home, already getting a headache from the lengthy drive and the deafening music. It is just his luck that there is traffic today. It is just his horrible luck that his college is inconveniently on the other side of town.

He impatiently taps his fingers against the wheel, feeling a little tempted to honk at the car in front of him for no particular reason. Itachi massages his neck and shuts his fatigued eyes. And next thing he knows, the car behind him honks deafeningly - the driver also pokes his head out of the window and screams at him to move. Itachi smiles to himself and waits one second before driving forward, and the man honks again. He is not the type of person to break the rules just for the heck of it, but today is an extreme exception.

About thirty minutes later he finally pulls up in the driveway, his car next to his father's in the garage. Itachi can imagine what Sasuke will say to him about being late, because, habitually, the college student is a rather punctual person. He relishes these innocent thoughts while they last, suddenly remembering that in a few weeks the divorce will be final and there will be a war in court over his custody. And because he is the local celebrity, Uchiha Itachi, people will want to know the outcome. He rests his forehead against the cool wood of the door before opening it, cursing his father yet again for choosing to be the police chief of Konoha.

Once he opens the door, Itachi can feel that there is something wrong. The house is quiet, which common, but the air is unexpectedly cold. He opens his mouth, to say,_ "I'm home!" _but shuts it quickly. There is a lump in his throat that just won't go away, so trying to talk will be foolish. Making his way like a thief in the night through the house, he forgets to take his shoes off. That lump now sinks down to his chest…and immediately Itachi thinks of Sasuke. "Sasuke, are you here?" he calls, swallowing hard when no reply came. "Mother?" Still nothing. "Father?" _(If this is a joke, I'm really going to kill somebody.)_

For once, Itachi is truly worried. He rushes upstairs and thoroughly checks through Sasuke's room, knowing that his little brother often likes to lock himself in there. When he finds nothing he scours his own room, and then his parent's, and then all the bathrooms and the living room and the dining room. He checks the garage again, just to see if all three cars are still there. When they are, he runs to the last room in the house – the kitchen. Without hesitation, Itachi slams the door open.

There they are, his parents lying on the floor. Mikoto's body is half on the table, half on the floor – as if someone pushed her there. Fugaku's is near the doorway, his body used to be against the door until Itachi had opened it, pushing him on the ground in a sprawled position. And there was Sasuke, sitting in the corner of the room with his back to him.

Itachi dashes over and runs his hand along his brother's body, whispering halfhearted thank-yous when he realizes that Sasuke is alright and unharmed. But what he does not notice yet is that the trauma that his baby brother has suffered may lead to unwanted troubles.

**Recollection Part Five**

"That's all I'm going to say about that night," Itachi finishes promptly.

Kakashi glances at Minato, deciding to change the subject before the man they're questioning becomes too depressed. "Did your parents find out about your secret relationship?"

Itachi looks up at his interrogators when he answers, "Yes. They did." Minato opens his mouth, but Itachi continues on. "And of course, they did not quite approve." The Uchiha's eyes lower again as he keeps talking. "Our father, especially. Whenever he had a chance to, he'd tell me that it is a disgusting thing, but I never listened. But our mother kept quiet about it, like she does everything." Minato spies a tiny smile on Itachi's face. "And Sasuke, well…he was angry, but he never expressed it."

"How," Sakura asks, "did your family take the divorce?"

Itachi complies and answers that question (Minato is still in a shock that he finally gave in a little). "None of them really took it that well. Except for maybe my father." he stops talking for a while, and they all begin to think that it is the end of his answer, but then he starts talking again. "My mother became more secluded, and Sasuke and Fugaku refused to even look at each other. And I…guess I didn't do enough to try to prevent what happened." All of a sudden, he frowns. "Is that all you need to know? Because this is all I'm willing to say."

The questioners give each other fleeting looks and they all tell him that he can leave the kitchen for now. Once Itachi leaves, Kakashi, who was standing up since Itachi began his story of the murders, collapses in a chair and groans. Sakura sits on the table, playing around with the recording device that recorded the entire conversation. Minato stares at the empty seat that Itachi used to sit in, as if he is mentally asking questions to someone that isn't there anymore. Naruto leaves the room a few seconds after Itachi, deciding that it may be more worthwhile to spend sometime with his best friend – so that they can be best friends again.

"Well…that really helped your theory," Kakashi says, stretching his arms out like a cat. "Now what do we do? Itachi apparently won't tell us anything else and the one that really witnessed-slash-committed the murders still has amnesia." He blinks at an unresponsive Uzumaki Minato, whose eyes are still focused on the vacant seat. "I don't know," the white-haired man says loudly and sarcastically, "But that chair is certainly lending us a hand."

**Recollection Part Six**

Once Naruto had emerged from the room, Sasuke's head began to throb agonizingly again. His hand flew up to his temples, massaging them roughly. "Sasuke, what wrong?" Naruto yells at full volume, rushing to his friend's side. Itachi sits down at Sasuke's other side, but he does nothing to try and soothe his headache. The blonde glares at the older Uchiha, and he repeats, a little louder now, "What's wrong?"

"Shut up, idiot," Sasuke mumbles. "You're just making it much worse." He waits a few seconds and the headaches disappear. Sasuke brings his hands back down to his sides, taking one deep breath. Out of the corner of his eye, Sasuke glimpses Itachi, who is just staring out the window with his mind wandering somewhere else. He sees Shisui, doing almost the same thing except his gaze is on the carpet. Naruto looking right at Sasuke, and he figures that the two detectives and a knowledgeable teenager are probably doing the same thing.

_I just want this over, _he thinks.

Kakashi, Minato, and Sakura emerge from the kitchen, all three of them with exhausted faces. "I think we should call it a day," Kakashi declares.

_I just want this over, _he thinks again. "No," Sasuke says, standing up and shocking Naruto. "Just stay a little while longer."

Minato and Kakashi look at each other, and shrug. Minato announces with an innocent beam, "It won't hurt as long as you serve dinner."

**Recollection Part Seven**

Rather honestly, Itachi has ho idea what his little brother is trying to pull. For one thing, he just wanted to get the police out of his apartment and take one moment to relax and think about what to do next. But _no, _Sasuke just had to insist to invite them (them, as in the people who might ruin everything) for dinner. When Sasuke vanishes in the kitchen, about to test his cooking skill again, Itachi follows him and shuts the door behind him. "Sasuke, what are you doing?" he asks quietly but not gently.

Sasuke does not look up from a cook book he has determinedly placed on the kitchen counter. "I want this over now," he replies briskly. "All this craziness over who killed our parents and why." He scowls as he turns the laminated pages, trying to find something a little proverbial. "Did I use to cook?" he changes the subject.

Itachi sighs and nods a little too solemnly for this topic. "You did," he earnestly responds. "Even better than our mother." He walks behind his brother and rests his hands on Sasuke's shoulders. "I won't argue with you if you want this over," he turns the focus of the conversation back to where he wants it to be. "But you have to promise me that you won't regret your decision."

"Why would I regret it?" Sasuke asks in the same grave manner. When Itachi does not answer, Sasuke purses his lips together for a moment, still flipping through the book. "I promise I won't regret it," he says so softly that his older brother had to strain his ears to hear it. "But you have to promise me," Sasuke adds in a louder voice. "That you won't regret it, either." He turns his neck to face Itachi.

Turns Sasuke to face him, while saying, "Are you just testing me?"

"Testing you?" Sasuke says, placing a hand on Itachi's chest and pushing him away a few steps. "It's not a test. It's the real thing." He turns back around and focuses his attention back on the cookbook. But all the while, he smiles when his older brother whispers in his ear before leaving the kitchen,_ I promise I won't regret it, too. _

**Recollection Part Eight**

Naruto and Sakura are sitting down on the kitchen counter, watching their old best friend prepare dinner. "This reminds me of the old times," Sakura tells the blonde in a low voice along with a smile adorning her face. Naruto nods energetically in agreement, chewing on some Chocolate Pocky that he stole from the pantry. "Go Sasuke!" Naruto exclaims loudly, feeling way too nostalgic to remain sane.

Meanwhile, the adults are sitting outside, not speaking much at all. Kakashi occasionally pokes his head into the kitchen just to see how things are going, and Minato is still in work mode, keeping a very close eye on Shisui and Itachi. Itachi is absentmindedly toying with the metal pieces on his necklace (the one his mother gave to him a long time ago when he was around five years old), and Shisui is inattentively staring at the blank TV screen as if he was really watching something. Once, Kakashi whispered to Minato through coughs: _Awkward…._

And awkward it is. Itachi seemed to have branded all the non-Uchihas in the house as enemies, and Shisui is wandering off somewhere in his own world. Even though Minato is characteristically social, Uchiha are oddly beyond his expertise in small talk and schmooze. Kakashi, though he is an old friend of the Uchiha, always attempted to get close but he never really succeeded either – and besides, the younger generation (basically, Shisui and younger), the only three Uchiha that are still alive today, don't seem to like the white-haired man that much.

It is already awkward, and it's only ten minutes after Itachi had emerged from the kitchen. Minato almost jumps when he hears Uchiha Itachi say, "It's raining." Shisui actually turns and gives his cousin an odd look, but he does not return his gaze. The Uchiha's eyes are now staring out the window, expressionless but expressive.

And right then, they hear Haruno Sakura's earsplitting, piercing scream and Uzumaki Naruto's cry for help.

The four adults immediately jolt into action, all rushing into the kitchen and asking what is wrong – and all expecting the worst. The scenarios rush through Kakashi's mind in a split second, and for some reason, his held breath releases in a tense relief when the scene is just Naruto kneeling on the ground, holding a fainted Sasuke _(even if it isn't good, it's not the worst-case scenario, is it?)._

"Sasuke," Itachi says, kneeling down and taking him from Naruto's arms. The blonde looks as if he is going to protest, but he doesn't. Minato is unexpectedly surprised by his son's odd and sudden respect.

Sakura worriedly looks at Itachi, and she sheepishly and anxiously asks, "Shouldn't we bring him to a hospital or something?"

"No," the older brother responds. "We shouldn't." He brings Sasuke to his own room, lying him down on the bed and then touching his forehead reverentially, as if Sasuke were a god. Nobody followed him into his room, and, quite frankly, Itachi is thankful. He tips Sasuke's head to the side and presses his lips against his brothers, a solemn promise that he will take to the grave. "I promised you that I wouldn't regret this," Itachi murmurs, holding his little brother's unconscious body as close as he can, as if in any moment now, Sasuke will disappear and never come back.

**Recollection Part Nine – Flashback**

Without telling her, Sasuke follows his mother into the kitchen that afternoon and began to aid her in cooking dinner. Mikoto does not say anything about it, either – they work in silence yet again_ (this is starting to happen a lot…)_. Mikoto walks over to the kitchen counter and sees a cloth with the Uchiha family's symbol on it. Shaking her head, she sets it aside, wondering whose it is. "Sasuke," she quietly says, "you don't have to help me if you don't want to."

"I want to," Sasuke replies nonchalantly. He turns and stares at his mother, while leaning on the counter. "More importantly…"

Fugaku strides in with a cup of Starbuck's Coffee warming his hand. Sasuke stops talking and his eyes are fully focused on his father, who completely ignores his gapes. Mikoto can pick out the distaste Sasuke has for his own father, and she realizes how pitiful the oh-so famous Uchiha family has finally become. Her throat becomes dry when her son pushes off of the counter and says this:

"Father, what exactly is wrong with us?" Fugaku does not answer. "Why?" Still no reply. Sasuke rolls his eyes and turns back to the kitchen counter, to the food he is supposed to be mincing. Before he picks the kitchen knife up, he mumbles something under his breath, in a low voice that does not sound like Sasuke at all. Mikoto, who is standing next to her son, can barely make out the words – to her, it sounded something like _"I've made up my mind."_

She places a gentle hand on her son's shoulder, wondering if Sasuke is trying to protect the entire family through whatever he made his mind up for. "It's alright," she tells him. "You don't have to do anything." Sasuke pretends as if he does not hear or feel her, and Mikoto suddenly takes her hand off of his as if his body was burning with flames.

"I'm not going to let you do everything for me," Sasuke murmurs. Mikoto stares at her son as if he has just grown three heads. Is he talking to himself, or her? Or maybe Fugaku? But it would not surprise her if the whole thing was just a hallucination. Mikoto watches Sasuke out of the corner of her eye _(why, exactly, did he cover the handle with that cloth?)_, and she flinches when sees him accidentally cut his finger with the knife. Her son brings the little cut up to his mouth, and Mikoto silently rushes out of the room and comes back with a first aid kit.

Mikoto quietly bandages the boy's finger, all the while saying, "Be careful; be careful."

"I will, Mother," Sasuke mouths to her. She blinks at her son, trying to point out a good reason why Sasuke only mouthed the words and did not say them out loud. And then she glances at her 'husband', Fugaku, still harmlessly reading a newspaper and sipping on Starbucks coffee. Maybe that is why. Still, she does not question him, and does not protest. "I will, Mother," Sasuke says softly now. Mikoto's gaze whips up to her son, and now she truly thinking that her entire family has gone crazy.

She sighs and sets the first aid kit on the table. Fugaku is standing right behind her – it is probably the closest those two have been to each other for a week, but her husband's eyes are still dully focused on the newspaper.

Mikoto truly begins to wonder what is wrong when Sasuke cuts the same finger _again. _She takes the kit and walks her son over to the table, considering taking the first bandage off and replacing it with a bigger bandage to cover the two cuts. Instead, she washes the new wound and applies ointment and a new bandage (and watching Sasuke play with the gleaming knife in his hands…_Why on earth did he cover it with that cloth?)_, now saying, "Sasuke, I told you to be careful." Still, she smiles, giving her son that much.

Sasuke blinks and watches her, returning the smile once Mikoto presses the bandage to his torn skin. "I'm sorry," he mouths again. Mikoto freezes for a moment, but still she lets the gentle smile remain on her face. She looks at her son carefully, still thinking that there might be something wrong. She finds nothing, except maybe something unusual in his eyes – and Mikoto makes the awful mistake of ignoring it.

"I'm sorry," Sasuke tells her, wrapping his arms around his mother for what may be no reason at all. Mikoto is now smiling so hard that it's starting to hurt, but she still gently rubs her son's back, thinking that it's okay to give him this much - again.

"_Mikoto!" _Fugaku loudly exclaims, slamming his mug of coffee onto the table.

Mikoto blinks and turns around, in shock that Fugaku actually called her name. "What is it?" she asks nervously. Fugaku, eyes wide, shakes his head. And meanwhile, Sasuke lets go and returns to the counter. He puts the knife down and leaves the room without saying a word. Both parents figure it's to go to the bathroom or something, so neither of them ask where or why he is going (they were too busy caught up in the moment – Fugaku _talked _to Mikoto!). But Mikoto repeats after a long silence, "What is it?"

Fugaku seems to swallow something, and he shakes his head. "Nothing," he says, returning his eyes to the newspaper. "It's nothing."

**Recollection Part Ten – Flashback**

Sasuke stands outside the door, hand on the knob and ear against the wood. He hears his mother repeat, _"What is it?" _His hands tighten around the knob, hoping for a more positive answer, but instead get _"Nothing. It's nothing." _Sasuke lets a long breath out of his mouth and he heads to his room, still wondering if it's okay to stop helping his mother out without saying anything about it. He shrugs that thought out of the way and opens the door to his bedroom.

He pauses before plopping onto the mattress like he usually does, remembering that he is forgetting something. That cloth…It is Itachi's. With any luck, Fugaku will give it back to his eldest son, but Sasuke doubts that fully. He does not know if it meant anything to his lover, but nevertheless he heads back to the kitchen to retrieve it (if Fugaku does win full custody over Itachi, then the handkerchief might be one of the only things Sasuke can hold onto that will remind him of him).

And when Sasuke opens the door, he sucks in a breath. He sees his mother, on the floor with her knees to her chest and rocking back and forth like a lunatic. And on the floor, near the door, there is Sasuke's father – with blood staining his shirt in three different places on his chest.

"Father? Mother?" he exclaims, rushing to his father first. His eyes are open, but he's barely alive. He turns to his mother, asking if she is alright. _She's gone crazy; _he thinks hurriedly when Mikoto does not reply. "Mother, what's wrong?" Sasuke asks, attempting to sound like he has everything under control (it's hard enough when your vision is going blurry with tears and possibly something else).

Mikoto's eyes are focused on her husband's dead body. She shivers and stares at Sasuke, eyes wide like a child's. "What-what…what did I…what did I just do?!" she buries her face in her knees, rambling on. "I killed him…I…" And Sasuke finally notices the knife in his mother's hand with the handle still covered in that stupid cloth.

_What should I do? _He frenziedly thinks. If he called the ambulance now, his father may be able to live. But if he did that, they make take his mother away for murder. And if he does nothing…well…Sasuke wipes the incoming deluge of tears _(I've no time to cry!)._ His parents' lives are in his hands – and Sasuke desperately wishes his brother were here.

Without thinking, Sasuke rushes to the closest phone (in the living room, next room over). Whether he is doing so to call Itachi or call the cops, he doesn't know. But Mikoto stops him, her hand feebly holding onto the hem of his shirt – again, like a child. "Mother, let go," Sasuke says, effortlessly pulling his shirt and himself out of her reach.

"Sasuke, please," Mikoto says every so softly, tears running down her pale cheeks and making their way onto the floor. "I'm so sorry."

**Recollection Part Eleven**

"_He's awake! Naruto! He's awake!"_

"_Seriously!? Sasuke! Talk to me!"_

"_Let him rest…You remember now, don't you?"_

Sasuke's eyes flutter open in a rapid flurry. He realizes that his cheeks are wet – was he crying in his sleep? He looks up and sees everybody in Itachi's bedroom. Naruto, the closest, both hands on his shoulders that are fully prepared to shake him like crazy. Sakura, sitting on the chair next to the bed and looking extremely downcast. Minato, standing at the doorway, attempting to get a good look at the scene without crowding Sasuke like everybody else is. Kakashi, standing behind the pink-haired girl, his indifferent expression now absolutely serious. Shisui, standing in the corner of the room, biting his lower lip. And Itachi, sitting down on the bed and looking even more distressed than Sakura.

"I remember," Sasuke says slowly, a response to what Itachi just said. He only caught half of the murder that night – something happened, something that only the dead knows now…and that something caused Mikoto to kill her husband. And afterwards, well… Sasuke's mother grew crazy, even for just a moment. And…He shuts his eyes and stares straight at his brother, trying not to falter on the half of the statement that is a lie. "I killed them. Both of them."

Itachi gives him a stern stare, but does not say a word. Naruto does not even bother to let go of his best friend's shoulders, but his father pushes him gently out of the way while reaching into his pocket.

"Uchiha Sasuke," Minato says in a rather horrible imitation of the Uchiha's famous deadpan voice. "You are under arrest."

**End Recollection**

You have no idea how long it took for me to write the second half of this (I finished half of this chapter the day I posted the last one). It was certainly difficult. There's still an epilogue, where mostly everything else that I didn't say yet will be revealed. Thanks much for reading and please review!!


	11. Epilogue

It's almost over! This is probably my favorite fanfic out of the ones that I wrote so far, so I'm sad that it's over, too. Well, I'll blab more at the ending. Thanks so much for reading so far!

**Epilogue**

_So paint my portrait the colors of my life – and the untold stories are painted black and white._

_-Escape the Fate. Webs We Weave._

**Epilogue Part One – Flashback**

"I'm so sorry," Mikoto repeats again and again. "I'm a horrible mother – what a terrifying state I must be in…Oh, Sasuke, I'm so sorry…" She clutches onto the hem of her son's blue shirt more firmly this time. "What will happen if Itachi came here now? Oh, this is awful, just awful…" Mikoto buries her face in Sasuke's shirt and begins to sob hysterically.

Sasuke stares down at his mother, sympathizing with her even though he is still afraid. He always knew his mother as a sensible person with excellent composure and posture. The person that is bawling uncontrollably into his shirt is not the mother Sasuke knows – and he wonders if he'll ever see her again. "Mother," he says shakily while tentatively and gently patting her shoulder. "It's…alright. Just let me go."

Mikoto seizes her son's hand with both of hers and looks up at Sasuke with wide eyes. She doesn't say a word, and that frightens the teenager even more. And suddenly she lets go and picks up the knife with unsteady hands, playing around with the stained and sharp blade like a child. Sasuke watches her mother in silence for a very brief moment. "What do you want me to do?" Sasuke asks, although he can just guess what Mikoto wants by the way she is fumbling around with the sharp kitchen tool.

And she looks up at her son with the sanest _(yet so insane)_ eyes that Sasuke has ever seen. "Kill me."

**Epilogue Part Two**

"You knew, didn't you?" Uzumaki Naruto asks the silent older brother before he follows his father out the door. "You knew _everything._"

Itachi shoots him an irate scowl. "Actually, I didn't." The blonde gives him a slightly puzzled look. "I wasn't there during the murder. All I know is that Sasuke killed someone and he received amnesia from the shock." He turns his gaze to the window and watches Minato lead his younger brother into the police car. "I never wanted this to happen," he adds softly. "And I'd appreciate it if everyone stopped treating me like the bad guy."

Naruto flinches when Itachi's eyes glide back to him. "This probably is a shock for you," the Uchiha says. "But I'd like to thank you."

**Epilogue Part Three – Two Months Later**

Uchiha Itachi irritably empties his pockets and allows the police to check him for any treacherous objects. This is probably the billionth time in one month that he's been visiting the youth detention center, all because he promised to check in on his little brother while he can...Well, he's free for most of the time now that the ankle monitor is off of him. An equally annoyed CO frowns at Itachi and then tells Sasuke that he has a visitor…again.

He sees his lover again, except with that bothersome glass wall in-between. Itachi presses the beaten down phone onto his ear, meaning to catch every thing that Sasuke says. But again, as usual, his brother doesn't say a word for a very long time. The older brother sucks in a long breath and says, "You want me to visit as many times as I can…so here I am."

Sasuke feels something tug at the corners of his lips. "I missed you."

Sasuke has been staying at the juvenile hall ever since he was proclaimed guilty of manslaughter by jury last month. The sentence itself isn't as bad as Itachi had expected, but his baby brother will have to stay in juvie for eight months, as a slap on the wrist. Kakashi, who turned out to be as the Uchiha family's attorney this entire time, told Itachi that he tried his best (and the older brother resisted the temptation to beat the shit out of Kakashi for not trying hard enough). Naruto and Sakura visited when they could, and Itachi, well…when he didn't get yelled it by the correctional officer he is allowed in.

"You sure? I was in here yesterday," Itachi says. Sasuke is not sure if he's joking or if he said that without meaning anything about it.

"I'm sure." Still more silence. The CO walks in and warns them that Itachi only has five more minutes. One thing Itachi hates about these visits are that they are painfully short. Sasuke nods and then trains his eyes on his older brother. "You know…I remember everything along with that murder." Itachi smiles a little, but still does not say a word. "I remember how we'd - foolishly really - joke around about how our parents would react if they were to find out. And how…"

"We'd do things that are entirely inappropriate for fourteen year olds," Itachi finishes still with a smirk. "I missed you, too."

The juvie stands up and presses his fingers against the glass, giving the door a fleeting look, checking if the CO is watching. Itachi stands up and does the same, his hand slightly larger against the glass. Sasuke says something that Itachi cannot quite hear because the telephone on the other side is lying on the floor. And Itachi left the juvenile hall that day, knowing exactly what his baby brother had said.

**Epilogue Part Four – Seven Months Later**

Sasuke takes a deep breath as he steps out of the youth detention center, feeling as if he never felt so free in forever. Itachi is leaning against his car with his arms crossed, his eyes fixed on his baby brother. He pushes himself off of the car and wraps his lover in a tight, needy embrace, quickly followed with a hungry kiss. "Stop it," Sasuke mumbles, trying to hide the blush that is coloring his pale face (made magically paler, if possible). "We're in _public._"

Itachi sends him a silent apology, and pulls him into another hug. Sasuke smiles while he says one last thing: "I knew you wouldn't regret this."

**End Blissful Ignorance**

Before you can scream and attack me for sappiness, I could NOT stand to end this sadly. You know? You know? It was seriously hard for me to type this, too. As usual, I planned a much more…depressing ending but it turned out a little better. And besides, it's always hard for me to write endings.

**Note: **If you still have many more questions (I think I left many things unsaid), add it in to the review. I'll be happy to answer you.

My next story will probably be a NaruSasu. If not, it's ItaSasu, as usual! Thanks for reading this and please review!

(And if you hadn't noticed, I changed my name from KoneKo13 to Serephy)

-Serephy


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